


Maelstrom

by thefuckistevvs



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Accidental Starvation, Adventure Fic, Alcohol, Almost Drowning, Anal Sex, Auto Fellatio, Bugs, Burnt corpses, Death, Drunk fighting, Emetophobia, Fingering, Fire, Fire Swallowing, Fire breathing, Gore, Inconsiderate Sex, Look he eats a rat ok, Lust, M/M, Magical Elements, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Pirate and Jester AU, Pirates, Rat Eating, Rotten flesh, Rough Sex, Slow Burn, Storms, Vouyerism, Zombies, contortionist, death by fire, dick piercings, ooooh boy, sword fights, sword swallowing, tipsy sex, will tag as I go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2018-10-11 11:10:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 88,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10463547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefuckistevvs/pseuds/thefuckistevvs
Summary: Mako Rutledge is one of the most feared pirates in the world.





	1. Alexandrite

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, how he loved this. 
> 
> YEAH OK LOOK THIS  
> it was SUPPOSED to be a one shot but it turned into..... this............  
> no idea how long it'll be. So uh.  
> I'll try to update this every week! but lets... lets see how it goes. 
> 
> I hope y'all like it! Thank you for reading!!!!

Oh, how he loved this. 

The smell of everything burning, the cackle of his crewmates echoing through the stone hallways. The jingling of the treasure they stole.  
Mako wouldn't give it up for nothing. 

 

Mako Rutledge, that was his name. He was one of the most (if not THE most) feared pirate captain. He was ruthless, merciless when it came to pillaging. Some said that he didn't even need the money, he just liked to steal and keep it for himself. And they were right. He already had more than enough to live on riches his entire life, but so what? He wanted more. Specially if it came from those greedy noblemen hands.  
Which is what they were doing that moment, in fact. 

The night had started normally enough. Mako and his crew had approached a pub and proceeded to harass the bartender to give them nothing but alcohol. He and his crew were huge men, and they had to drink a lot to get to the state of stupor they were currently in.  
Mako couldn't remember who was the one that came up with the idea. It started with one of his men saying how they should storm the King's castle, take everything they could and then leave. His idea had been followed by cheers and hollers, and after two rounds more of alcohol they actually got up and did it. 

The alcohol made his head buzz, but it was pleasant. Mako ran his hook over the hallways, leaving deep gashes on the bricks. How he actually managed to get past the guards along with his crew was a mistery to him. Alcohol truly was something magical, he supposed.  
Honestly, who cares? They had somehow managed to get inside the actual King's castle, and they were wrecking it. It was glorious, and it made Mako rumble in laughter. They didn't actually found the King, or their actual chambers, but they just went to break and steal whatever wasn't bolted to the floor. 

Mako himself? He just kept destroying the expensive paintings, the expensive foreign vases and generally just ruining everything. They needed to leave, however. As strong as they were, Mako knew even drunk that it wasn't a good idea to linger in a castle full of royal guards. He had already butchered a good chunk of people, poor bastards that just happened to be there while he rampaged, but even he knew that they needed to leave. 

"Let's go!" He yelled, the windows and walls rumbling due to the power of his voice. He heard cheers and yelling as his men retreated. Mako laughed, running towards the exit they made themselves. 

He glanced at his men as they made their way towards their ship, and he saw all of them were carrying chests and bags. He smiled even if he wasn't carrying anything himself- he didn't care. He just liked to destroy things.  
Mako could hear the men going after them, but they were far faster. No one would catch up to them. The moonlight shone their way as they finally got into their ship. They immediately sailed, leaving the port behind as the guards screamed for them. He and his crew just laughed into the night, their massive ship, the SeaHog, made her way through the waves and into the ocean. 

As soon as they were far away from the coast, Mako turned to face his entire crew. He howled into the night, his crewmates doing the same. They lifted their blood soaked weapons into the sky, waving them and coating each other with the bloods of the victims they just killed for their night out. Mako lifted his hook and sure enough, it had bits of flesh and organs on the tip. At this point, they didn't care who they killed. Specially if those "who" were just nobles or working for them. 

To be honest, at the moment he couldn't remember just how many people he killed. They must have been a lot, considering all the blood he had smeared on himself. 

"We've had another successful raid!" Mako yelled out, and everybody cheered on. His voice slurred and so did theirs, still buzzed due to all the alcohol. Did they pay the bartender? Probably not. It's not a thing they normally do. 

Mako laughed as his crew went nuts, throwing their golden coins and necklaces at the air. It was a good feeling. 

They continued to celebrate for no special reason in particular. He adjusted his shark mask, already feeling the need to sleep. 

One of Mako's most prominent features apart from his gigantic gut and his freakish height was his shark mask. It was an actual shark hide, a shark he personally punched to death. That had been a good day. The Shark had It's eyes replaced with lenses, and the mouth went over Mako's face. It had filters jammed in it. Not most people knew it, but Mako didn't have good lungs, so the filters were sometimes a necessity. However, it just inspired fear on his opponents. Good. 

"Captain!" One of his men called out. "Captain Rutledge!" He called out again, his brown skin red due to all the alcohol. 

"What do you want?!" Mako hollered from his position. The crewmate, Davey Craggs made wild motions with his big hands at Mako to come over. 

"We got ya a present, Captain!" 

He tilted his head, in confusion. Was it more riches? Mako made his way, his gait slightly tilted due to the alcohol. Davey was very drunk, as well. His crooked smile was flashing Mako, his eyes red while he could barely stand up. He was dragging a very, very large duffel bag. 

"We stole ya somethin' up real good from tha castle." This piqued Mako's interest. He wondered what the hell his crewmates thought was interesting enough to give him. "We thought ye might like some... entertainment!" 

They all proceeded to snicker, and now Mako was slightly furious that they were all in this stupid joke. Davey slammed the duffel bag into the ground, and he must have been really drunk because he could have sworn that it made a sound. It also seemed to move from the inside. 

Wait, what? 

Mako approached slowly as Davey opened the bag and dumped its contents unto the floor. A person was thrown into the floor, cursing and trying to scramble away. Davey stopped him with his boot, pressing it against the person's back pinning him down. Everybody around them laughed, but Mako tried to pay attention to the person. 

"Stand up, clown!" Davey said as he let go the man. The figure scrambled to stand, and Mako could now fully see him. 

The man was very tall, maybe even taller than some of his crew. Mako still was taller, but still was an impressive feat. However, as tall as he was he was very, very thin. Malnourished, even, with his hip bones and ribs poking out of his white skin. He wore rings and bells, along with a heavy necklace. His pants were tight and colorful, his coat colorful as well. Strange dyes decorated his hair turning it a shade of blue. His face was decorated with white make up, smeared now. 

"...What is this? A jester?" Mako asked, tilting his head further examining the man. He was missing his right arm, replaced by a mechanical one. The man looked on edge, staring at everybody with his amber eyes. He couldn't be too old. 

"Is the royal jester!" Davey laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the entire world. "We stole him! He can do tricks for us and the like!" 

Mako was far too drunk for this. They don't take hostages- they just kill everybody until there are no hostages to take. But this... this was ridiculous. A gift? 

Mako growled, gripping his hook and staring down at Davey. The burley man took notice immediately, sputtering terrified. 

"W-we thought it would be funny, Captain! He can-he can make you laugh! Make us laugh! Do those fire tricks or those throwing balls thing jesters do! It- it got nothing to do with-" 

He stopped himself before he said anything else. If Mako hadn't been so drunk, he would have gutted him right there. 

It was no secret that there were rumors about Mako's Rutledge sexuality. He didn't care, whoever he fucked was no one's business. If they made it important, then Mako would just gut them like the vermin they were. His crew learned the hard way when one of them made a quip about it, and they had to clean his guts off the deck. 

"Captain, ya been tense lately- we thought a jester would be a good idea." Another one of the crewmates said. Fair enough. It was a damn stupid idea, but at least it wasn't a joke on him needing a quick fuck. 

The Jester was very quiet, completely still staring at them in horror. Mako raised his hook and pointed it at the jester, slightly threatening. 

"What is your name?" 

The man swallowed hard, just laughing. Mako pressed the tip of the hook on his throat. "I am not in the mood for stupidity." 

"No need tha' be so fidgety," the Jester said still laughing. He was squirming. "Tha' name is Jamison Fawkes. Royal Jester at yer service!" 

"Why shouldn't I just throw you overboard?" 

The Jester bit his lip, staring up at Mako. "I can be entertainin'! I ain't the King's favorite jester just for nothin', Captain!" 

God, this was stupid. He should just throw him off the ship and be done with it. His head was starting to hurt and the only thing Mako wanted to was to sleep. But now he had to deal with this. 

"Jail him, I'll deal with him tomorrow" he instructed his crewmates. They all kind of stared, without actually doing a thing. 

"I thought I gave you an order!" He yelled out, forcefully this time. They all caught on it, taking the man and dragging him away. 

"Nice tha' meet ya Captain Rutledge!" Jamison yelled as he was dragged away. "Heard amazin' stories about ye! Will be a pleasure workin with ya!" 

Mako huffed, dragging his hand down the mask. 

 

This was going to be a long week.


	2. Onyx

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps the Jester wasn't such a bad gift, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mako really hates clowns
> 
> HI HELLO WHATS UP, new chapter. Not much to say apart that this one is sorta short, but kind of sort sets up the plot of the story.  
> Like My Kingdom for a Pig, I'll try to upload a new chapter every week. Hopefully i can keep that work load!!
> 
> Thank y'all for reading!! Hope you like it!!!!

Waking up had been a pleasant experience despite the huge amount of alcohol he had drank the previous night. Mako was so huge it was very rare for him to have hangovers, if anything his mouth was a little dry. 

He sighed, rolling on his sheets as he felt the warm sunlight bathing him. The captain rubbed at his face. He rested in his bed for a little longer, just basking in how comfortable his huge bed was. His cabin was decorated with stolen riches and decorations, expensive paintings and jewels that sparkled underneath the sunlight.  
The gentle rocking of the ship lulled him as did the sea salt in the atmosphere. His shark mask was perched at the side of the bed, secure. The only reason he felt safe taking his mask off was due to the door being closed with key. No one knew what Mako's face looked like, and that was for the better. He had realized that people feared far more not knowing what was behind the shark leather. 

He could already hear the sounds of his crewmates laughing and talking, still a bit drunk from the night before. Mako smiled, as he realized that was exactly where he wanted to be.  
Then he heard shrill laughter, unfamiliar to him. It was loud and annoying. 

Oh, God. The Jester. 

Mako had absolutely forgotten about their hostage. Did his crewmates really stolen the royal Jester? What where they _thinking_? It was probably the stupidest idea any of them ever had, and God if his crew was goddamn stupid sometimes.  
More shrill laughter. Did they let him out of his cell? 

Mako stood up from his bed, stretching his body as he did so. His good mood had turned sour as he tried to figure out what the hell he was going to do with the clown. He took the shark mask on, making sure it was well adjusted by taking a deep breath.  
Set to go, he opened the door of his cabin forcefully and slamming it against the wall. Every pirate that was out on the deck stared at him immediately, dead on their tracks. Without looking, Mako slammed the door shut. It automatically locked as he slowly walked to face all of his crewmates. 

There was a small circle and at the center of it, the Jester. His make up had been smeared a little and the dye on his hair was a little messed, letting the blond roots show. He didn't seem to realize everybody had stopped staring at him, still juggling with little metallic balls that he probably had stashed somewhere ( _where_?). 

"Have ya' heard what they used tha call tha' King when he was a wee lad? Well-" He stopped dead cold when he saw Mako staring down at him, his hands stopping and causing the metallic balls to fall into the floorboard and roll away slowly. 

"G-good day, Cap!" He saluted still holding a ball in his metallic hand. "Hope ya doin' fine on this lovely day!" 

"I thought I told you to lock him up," Mako's voice was powerful as he descended the stairs near to the circle his crewmates started to slowly walk away from. "Didn't I?" 

"Cap'n, we uh, we thought-" 

"You thought wrong!" Mako boomed. Everybody flinched, the Jester just looked like he was about to jump the deck. Mako wished he would, he would have one less thing to worry about. "What makes you think you have the right to disobey my orders?!" 

His voice was now raised and yelling. The pirates looked at each other in a panic, while the Jester just chuckled nervously. 

"It-it ain't their fault, Cap!" Said the Jester. What was his name? Jamison, Mako recalled. Jamison just smiled awkwardly, trying to defuse the situation. "I told 'em I could do some jugglin', but they didn't believe me so, i told 'em I would show 'em! But, there aint no space back at the holdin' cell, so I convinced 'em to let me free!" He kept toying with the metallic ball he had on his palm, throwing it from one hand to the other. "Ya ain't gotta blame 'em, it's me fault! And- besides, i ain't dangerous! What would a wee skinny Jester like me do to all these huge men, eh? I can only kill 'em with bad jokes!" 

Now that they were in the sunlight, Mako could truly appreciate the man. He was, indeed, extremely skinny and malnourished. He expected the King to keep his entertainment well fed. Maybe that was part of the joke.  
Jamison chuckled nervously. 

Mako grabbed him by the throat prompting Jamison to drop his ball into the ground, it landed with a loud thud on the wooden board. Jamison clawed at Mako's huge palm as the Captain made him hang above the water. Everybody was quiet, apart from Jamison's ragged breathing in an attempt to keep his cool even if he was close to being thrown off the boat. 

"Why shouldn't I throw you and let you die?" 

"I-I'm a gift! I-I, It would be rude t-t-to throw off yer gift off the sea!" 

Mako tilted his head. "You are surprisingly okay with being stolen from the castle. Do you not care that you have been kidnapped?" 

"Kidnapped?! Ha!" Jamison tried to pull himself up, avoiding choking. Mako's grip was still firm on him. "I mean, yeah, yer mates over there did throw me into a bag in tha middle of tha night, but, if ye would've asked me, I would 'ave said yes!" 

"You only say that so I don't drop you into the ocean." 

"W-well, mate, ya gotta understand, ya put me in a difficult situation right 'ere." Jamison glanced down at the sea, and then up to Mako once again. "Ya can't blame a bloke for tryin'!" 

He had a point. Yet, Mako didn't really want to deal with the Jester. It was just way easier to let him drown. 

He opened his palm, letting Jamison fall to his death. 

 

...Or at least that is what would have happened if the little shit hadn't clung to his arm like a terrified animal. 

"Wait!" Jamison screeched, grabbing unto Mako's huge arm and curling up to it. Mako shook his arm, trying to get the Jester to let go. "Wait wait wait wait wait! Ya like to keep stolen things eh?! I know ya like to! I know ye love to keep things that ain't yours!" 

He continued to shake his arm violently. He wished he had grabbed his hook from his cabin so he could use it to pry the bastard off him. 

"Get off me!" Mako shouted, retreating the arm. Exasperated, Mako threw a punch straight at Jamison's face. The Jester took it, his grip faltering and dropping inside the ship. Mako kicked him in the ribs, pressing one boot against his ribcage and pinning him down. 

"Why you little-" 

"I know ye got a fancy for stolen jewels and treasures," He coughed up. "I happen to have some stashed in me person. If ya throw me to tha sea, ya ain't getting 'em." 

"Bullshit," Mako howled. "You got no place to hide 'em." 

"Why don't ya get off me for a second and i'll show ye?" 

Mako grunted lowly. There was nothing he had to lose, he figured. The little fuck couldn’t stand a fight, and he was surrounded by crew mates that could detain him if he decided to make a run for it. Begrudgingly, he took the boot off Jamison's chest. 

The Jester got up, cleaning off the dust on his torso. "Thank ye, now, give me a second..." 

Jamison shifted, his metallic hand hitting the center of his chest strongly. Mako could see how the man's stomach shifted and hitched. Mako's face was twisted in confusion, and so were the other crewmates. Jamison dry heaved, hunching slightly as he puked right in his metallic arm. 

Instead of puke, however, a diamond necklace came out. 

Mako stared at wide eyes while Jamison dangled the expensive jewelry on his hands, covered in spit. 

"If ya keep me alive, I will give ye one of these every day-" 

Mako was instantly over him, and so was his crew. They grabbed Jamison by the arms and shoulders, lifting him up in the air parallel to the floor. They all grabbed him tight, pulling at his limbs as Mako approached him, one oft he pirates handing him a huge blade.  
Jamison eyed the huge blade, already sweating bullets. Mako pressed the blade against Jamison's belly, the man shivering at the cold dangerous touch. 

"Tell me, why shouldn't I gut you right now, like a fish?" Mako taunted. The cold blade traced a thin line around Jamison's belly, not yet cutting. Jamison's breath hitched. "I wonder how many jewels I can find inside you, little fish." 

"Y-ye could do that, but this ain't all I got." He hissed. "I got more. I got tons more. I've been workin' in tha' castle for years, ya think I only stole what I ate up before ya stole me away?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"There are lots of nooks and crannies around tha' castle. Lets say... I got a hidden place where only I can fit, and I got far more of these." 

Mako pondered. 

"I am already a rich man. I've stolen far more than I know what to do with. Why should I be interested in whatever you have to give?" 

"Well, mate," That coy smile of his was back on his face. Mako had to admit that this guy had guts, considering the fact that he was being held by men who could very easily kill him and wasn't as nervous as others have been in the same situation. "Ye've stolen everythin', roight. But told me, have ya stolen from tha' King himself?" 

Mako tilted his head. 

"Yeah, that's roight. I am tha' royal Jester, am I not? I manage to get real close to tha' King 'imself. Tell me, ya look like a man that got a taste for royal jewels." Jamison chuckled loudly. "Can ya imagine, ownin what the owner of the world used to own? Tha really take it away from his nose?" 

Mako would be lying if he said he didn't consider it. While they did storm the castle while drunk, it had been just a small section, where the staff slept. The castle itself was huge, and the possibility of taking the riches pretty much from the King's hands was very, very tempting. Make him mourn for those useless things. To be the man that stole from him. 

"Why do I need you? My men can tear the castle apart, and find your stash." 

"No offense mate, but yer men are pretty darn big and burly. I'm skinny and fit in small places. And I assure ya, where the jewels are ain't a place ye will be able to fit in." He sighed, contently. "Besides, castle is very big- ya really riskin' losin' all that treasure?" 

God damn if he didn't present a really interesting situation. Mako thought of it hard. 

"So? What do ye say, Captain Mako Rutledge?" 

Mako considered it. The temptation was far too big, and he had already imagined himself with the King's riches on his hands. And if Jamison lied, it would be easy to just snap his spine and let him be eaten by sharks. 

"Let him go." 

His men instantly did so, placing Jamison rather roughly on the floor. The Jester laughed, dusting himself off and laughing. "So, I guess it is a deal, eh?" He extended his hand trying to close the deal. 

Mako did so, shaking his hand. Mako's palm was absolutely huge compared to Jamison, completely engulfing it. 

"You will live in the holding cell. Puke one of these every day and I'll see for your survival." 

Jamison's eyes widened but before he could say something, Mako's men were already holding him and dragging the jester back to the cell. 

"W-wait! Wait! Come on! I can show ye tricks! I can-" 

Mako just ignored him. Instead, he stared at the horizon, a new resolve in mind.  
The King's riches. He tightened his fist as he smiled underneath his mask. 

Perhaps the Jester wasn't such a bad gift, after all.


	3. Tiger Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sound of the ocean was a pleasant break for all the stupid chaos Mako has had to deal with the past days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A storm is brewing.
> 
> Hello!! Here is a new chapter for pirate fic, aka "We stole a jester, what now", hehe.  
> I am having a lot of fun with this!!! I hope y'all guys are also enjoying it as much as I am. I pretty much have the plot figured out, not sure how long it'll be, but we'll see!! it's going to be a long one, heh.
> 
> I hope y'all like this chapter!! thank you for reading!!!!!!!

The sound of the ocean was a pleasant break for all the stupid chaos Mako has had to deal with the past days. A huge map laid in front of him, stabbed against the wall. The corners of the parchment were held in place against the wall via small daggers and knives.

He scratched his neck as he examined the map carefully. Daggers and pins along with pictures were shoved there, with notes Mako wrote himself, circles and string. He had modified the map during the years, adding more sections he drew or stole from other maps. It was a big mishmash, but he could find order in it.  
Mako already had plans on going to Tortuga and get provisions there, along with maybe an idea of what to do next. However, Jamison’s presence in the ship had changed everything. Now there was a backup plan, and that was storming the castle. If what Jamison said was true (And it better be if he didn’t want to be shark food), then Mako couldn’t wait to just storm there to steal all the riches he could get his huge hands on.

However, he knew that it was dangerous to just get to the castle again, few days after they broke in. It probably was better to just wait for a few months so they wouldn’t expect it. Besides, it was better to load up in all necessary things before doing such a feat.  
He groaned as he pondered. He didn’t have a map of the castle itself. That probably would be useful, he wondered if he could get it from somewhere. He didn’t think Jamison would be able to draw one for him, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy that was good at drawing them. He would have to steal it from someone.

Speaking about Jamison, Mako hadn’t spoken with the man since he was jailed. Ever since he learned that he had gems on his guts he was shoved on the holding cell and hasn’t left it since, not even so he could puke more jewelry for Mako. To be honest, the Pirate Captain didn’t really want to deal with the man. Thankfully his crew had been smart enough to obey his orders and not release him like they previously had done. Since then his crew had worked in their assigned tasks, and everything was going smoothly with Mako breathing down their necks.

Mako blinked.

...Had they been feeding Jamison?

Mako quickly exited his room. How long had it been since they had jailed the man? Four days? They were not used to having any prisoner ever, instead opting for just killing everybody. They had never had to deal with actually keeping a prisoner alive so they completely forgot about him. Mako hoped that the man was still alive, otherwise the treasure would be lost forever. 

“Hey!” Mako shouted into the small kitchen of the ship. The cook, a rugged man with an eye and ear missing turned around to face Mako, slightly surprised but not disturbed at all. 

“Aye cap’n, ya need anythin?”

“Has anyone fed our prisoner?”

“The Jester? N-no,” The realization hit the pirate chef hard, just as it did with Mako.

“Give me something i can feed him, if he hasn’t starved to death yet.”

The chef very quickly grabbed a plate, shoving some stale jerky along with bread. He gave it to Mako who immediately took hold of it and was making his way outside.

“Ya deliverin’ it to the jester ‘imself, Captain?”

“I don’t trust any of you with him. Last time that happened you let him roam my ship. That mistake won't happen again.”

He quickly made his way towards the holding cell, the plate steady on his hand. He traveled down towards the small corridor with things crammed at the sides, already feeling worried about how awfully quiet it all was. Normally it takes more than four days to die of starvation, but Jamison was very skinny. 

Mako finally reached the holding cell. He didn’t see a thing until his eyes traveled to the floor, where the limp form of the jester laid on the ground.

Huh. Oops.

He still wanted to make sure the man was alive, so he shook the bars making a huge racket. The noise made Jamison flinch and shoot up, standing up immediately and wildly looking around.

“Oh, you’re alive then.” Mako said without any concern. Jamison grunted and Mako noticed he had some dry blood around his mouth.

“Fuckin’ ‘ell, I thought ya wanted tha’ starve me to death!”

“Didn’t work, it seems.”

“Well, nah. Thankfully I managed to snag some food myself.”

“What? No one has been down here, have they?”

“Not yer crew, mate.”

Mako looked down, and saw little bones licked clean along with fur.

“...You ate the rats?”

“What was I supposed tha’ do! Ya leave me down ‘ere and I ain’t got no idea when I’m gonna be fed! I honestly thought ya were starvin’ me to death! I had to survive somehow!”

Mako didn’t know if he was impressed at how he resorted to somehow catching the rats and eating them, or being disgusted at the fact that he had in fact eaten the goddamn diseased rats. He hoped that there wasn’t any contagious disease on those animals.

“I brought you food.”

“Ye’re damn days late! This is torture! I ain’t even know how much time has passed! I can’t see tha’ sun from ‘ere!”

“So, you don’t want the food?”

Jamison grumbled, getting near the bars and putting his face between the space. Most of his makeup had been smudged off, his hair sticking into many different directions. Mako now could truly appreciate some of the freckles underneath the white makeup. The blue lipstick the man had been wearing was very faded as well. 

“Fine. I ain’t eatin’ more rats.”

His greedy hands were already attempting to snatch the food, but Mako yanked the plate away. 

“First, I am going to need you to give me something.”

“Ya starve me for days, shove me in a place that ain’t even got a damn cot and then ya ask me tha give ye my jewels? You truly are cruel!” Jamison laughed. Mako just stared at him silently. The jester rolled his eyes, as he stood up straight and got ready.

Once again, he slammed his chest with a closed fist a couple of times, stomach twitching. He hunched over, hands cupped underneath him as he vomited dry, a golden clock spilling from his lips. 

“Ta-da!” He said as he hold the clock on his metallic fingers. He gave it to Mako, who examined it. He huffed in appreciation, wishing Jamison had cleaned the spit off it, but who was he to complain?

Mako shoved the plate between the bars but it didn't fit. So he just tilted the plate, the food falling to the floor. Jamison was quick to scoop his hands to grab the food, somehow managing to prevent all of it from touching the ground.

“Hey! What fuckin’ gives?!” he yelled out. He used one arm to cradle all the food and snatched the plate, proceeding to put the food on it. 

Mako saw how he scarfed down the food, wondering if it was uncomfortable considering Jamison had jewels and treasure on his stomach. Now that he thought about it, didn’t it hurt him? It couldn’t be comfortable to have so many metallic things on his belly. What happened in moments like this, where he ate normal food? He probably had trained his stomach to recognize what to digest and what not to. 

“Can’t give a bloke a bed or somethin?”

“You aren’t supposed to feel comfortable. You are not a guest here.”

“Oh? I thought I was tha’ only way to get to the King’s treasure. One would think you would make me feel more comfortable and tha’ like.”

Mako huffed annoyingly. He didn’t want Jamison to know that he technically had the advantage here. Mako could kill him easily, but the treasure would be gone.

“We will keep you alive, not comfortable.”

“I’m just askin’ for a mattress, or somethin’ to lay down. My back is killin’ me.”

Eh, Mako could give him a blanket. While he wasn’t too keen on the Jester he didn’t want on outright torturing him. The man had already eaten rats.

“I will be back with something you can lay on.”

He was already making his way out but Jamison called out to him. “I must be a lucky man! Captain Rutledge ‘imself takin care of me requests!”

Mako slammed his open palm against the gate, making it shake with a very loud sound. It knocked Jamison off his feet and made him fall on his butt. Mako enjoyed the image.

“Somehow you managed to get my crew to ignore me the first time. I am not stupid enough to let it happen again.”

“Got it, Cap’n! I can’t deny my charms are truly somethin’ to behold! Ahahaha!”

Mako groaned loudly, leaving the cell and going back into the deck to retrieve something Jamison could sleep on. He wondered if the treasure was really worth having him in his beautiful ship.

 

\---

 

The sea was restless. The skies had turned black, thunder illuminating the dark clouds as they cracked. A storm was coming, and it was a big one. They were in the middle of the sea without any shelter or way to outrun it. They would have to brace and fight it. 

“Secure everything!” Mako yelled, deep voice rumbling above the sound of the savage waves. “Smitty, what is our status?!”

“The waves are too strong, Captain! We have secured everything and-”

The pirate was in the middle of the sentence when a huge wave rose. Mako saw it looming over his ship and witnessed how it came down. He held into the railing of the ship as he felt the harsh water attempt to wash him away.  
Lucky for him and all his crewmates, he was too big to be swallowed by the sea. Mako just laughed as the salt stuck to his skin.

The waves kept coming, rocking the ship painfully. Mako grit his teeth, even if he knew that his ship would hold it still hurt to think she was being rocked by the water. 

“Captain! There is a hole on the ship, we’re getting flooded!” 

Shit. “Can it be fixed?!”

“We’re on it, but water is already seepin’ fast!”

“Get everybody you can to fix it! Quick! We cannot afford to let her sink!” He screamed, and the pirates were already on their way to fix the hole. Mako huffed. “What section is it flooding?!” If they got their gunpowder reserves wet, they would be in a dangerous situation until they reached Tortuga. 

“Tha holding cell is being flooded!”

Oh, god damnit. “Has someone gotten the jester out?!”

“Joe is trying to get the door to the cells open, but it is stuck!” 

 

Mako lost no time. He ran towards the holding cells as the water washed over him, his face remaining dry thanks to his mask. He huffed as he finally reached the stuck door along with his crewmate who was desperately trying to open it.

“Captain! It’s stuck, I cant-”

“Go help the others get the hole fixed, I’ll handle this!” He placed his hands on the frame and just pulled. His muscles bulged as he pulled hard, ripping the door off its hinges and throwing it aside.

There was already a deep layer of water that reached up to Mako’s chest, and he was a tall man. He worried for the ship but they were already fixing the hole, so he focused on getting the Jester out.

“Hey!” He heard a wet voice calling. Mako made his way through the water to get to the last cell while the ship rocked back and forth, side to side and making it even more difficult to get there. “Someone there?!”

Mako finally reached the Jester, the man was holding unto the cell bars and lifting his head above the water. He could see how he had to float slightly above the floor. His face was panicked and attempting to have his head off the water. 

“Give me some help, please?” He laughed nervously attempting to not show his terror.

“...I don’t have the keys,” Mako realized loudly as he looked at the lock on the cell. 

“W-what?! Y-ya gotta go back for ‘em! I’m gonna drown! I’m-”

“Step back.”

Jamison blinked, letting go off the bars and swimming as far as he could, holding unto the walls instead as his eyes widened with every second that passed, water level rising non stop.  
Mako grabbed the bars and like with the door, he pulled hard. It was more difficult this time with not only the water, but these being metal bars. He pulled hard and groaned, the frame of the walls holding the bars creaking and tearing apart.  
He finally ripped the bars off enough to let an opening big enough for Jamison to swim through. Mako made a quick motion with his palm, and Jamison immediately understood.

Jamison had to dive to be able to get through the small gap. Scared, he did so as he attempted to swim through the small space but as he did so his hips got stuck, leading him to trash like a terrified rat.

“Shit,” Mako grabbed his flesh hand and yanked him as much as he could, getting Jamison unstuck but slightly scraping his hip. He hoped he didn’t care, after all a scrape was better than drowning. 

“M’ fine,” Jamison coughed when he pulled his head out of the water. Weird, Mako didn’t ask him. He would have said that aloud if it wasn’t that they were running out of time. He still held Jamison’s skinny wrist, pulling him behind as Mako exited to the deck.

The moment they stepped outside Mako saw how the storm had gotten worse. Jamison gasped behind him as the air pulled and yanked at the ship.

“Captain! We fixed the hole! It should be enough to hold ‘er up!”

“Good, keep her steady and afloat. It looks though, but no storm will sink her!”

The pirates cheered and hollered, motivated to try their hardest to keep the Sea Hog alive. Mako was still holding Jamison close.

“Here comes a big one!” Someone yelled. Mako looked up, witnessing another huge wave coming down on them. 

“Hold on!” Mako yelled at everybody as the wave slammed against them once again. Mako felt the pressure of the water attempting to take him but his massive girth helped him once again.

His hold on Jamison did not falter either. As they were being washed over he saw how the man’s body floated and was yanked around by the water, just far too skinny and light to keep on his toes like the others.

Mako felt how the water attempted to take him away, but Mako had a very strong grip. He wouldn’t let the man be swallowed by the sea, not until he got the treasure he wanted. The water finally gave up and Jamison crumpled to the floor coughing in exhaustion.  
Another similar big wave hit them, and the process repeated.

“Shit!” Jamison yelled, coughing his lungs out as his small body shook.

This wouldn’t work. Jamison couldn’t take it, and Mako needed to place him somewhere. The holding cell was out of question, and everybody else was far too unstable for the smaller man. His mind was racing and there was only one place Mako thought could work.

He huffed in annoyance as he practically dragged Jamison to his personal room. He opened it with his key, getting inside and shoving a tired Jamison inside. For a second he considered leaving and locking the door behind him, letting Jamison to collect his bearings but he stopped.  
Jamison had literally eaten gems that belonged to the King. Who was to say he wouldn’t steal Mako’s shit?

He stayed inside, sighing deep as he did so.

“What, ya ain’t gonna check on yer crew?” Jamison hissed, sitting on the floor and panting. 

“They can take care of themselves.”

“Awh, ya worried about me, big guy?”

“I’m worried you are going to steal my shit, Jester.”

Jamison still laughed anyways, his wet body already leaving a puddle on the exquisite stolen red carpet. Damn.

“What good would it be to steal from ya? I mean, it ain't like I can hide from ye here.”

“You’re small and can get into small places. I am not leaving you alone in my room.”

“Oh, this is your room?” He looked around, taking in all the expensive stolen decorations, licking his lips. “Fancy, full of pretty nice stuff. I assume ya stole all of this, eh? Of course ya did! That’s yer job, after all.”

Mako sighed. Without an answer, Jamison laid with his back on the carpet, huffing and trying to recollect himself. The water had taken off his make up and the paint from his hair, and now Mako could fully see who Jamison was behind it all.  
Blond wet hair sticking to his face and into the carpet. Jamison’s skin was very pale and plastered with freckles and little moles. Mako could see how his ribs rose up and down in rhythm along with his breathing. 

“What now?” He said, staring at the ceiling where an expensive chandelier hung from. 

“We wait it out.”

“Ya… ya don’t think this will sink?”

“My ship is powerful and strong, she can handle this. It is just but a storm.”

“Alright…” Jamison whispered, unsure and still afraid.

They would be there for awhile, it seemed. He could hear the ruckus outside but nothing out of the normal. He could relax for a bit without worrying about his ship sinking. It was going to be pretty boring. 

“Hey,” Mako said softly, Jamison gently shifting his head to look at him from his position, sprawled on the floor. “You’re a Jester, right? I’m bored, do a trick.”

“I would mate, but-” Thunder was heard outside, rumbling and shaking the walls on the ship. Mako saw how Jamison flinched and curled into himself, arms holding his head in protection. 

“...You scared of storms?” 

“W-what do ya fuckin’ know?! We’re in tha’ middle of the ocean and- and what if this sinks? What if the ship sinks?!” Jamison started huffing, fear tainting his voice. “There ain’t no place to shield from tha lightning! What if we get hit by lightning?!”

The Captain took a deep breath. The kid looked terrified, so he obviously wouldn’t do any tricks any time soon. Without even bothering to calm Jamison down, Mako went to his bed and sat there, hearing the rumbling of the sea around him, waiting for it all to pass.

 

\---

 

The sky was clean. The storm had finally ended, leaving nothing but clear skies from miles to no end. It wasn’t until Jamison was assured that, yes, the storm had ended and that, yes, there was no more lightning that he stood up and exited the room along with Mako. The Captain was already starting to bark orders at his crew.

“What is our status? Have we lost someone?!”

“Nay Captain! Everybody is accounted for! We got couple of rooms flooded and ruined, but we can surely drain them out and fix ‘em up when we get to Tortuga.”

“Good. Did she sustain any damage?”

“No Cap’n! Just a couple of fix ups. She is good!”

Mako let out a pleasured growl. He knew his ship would handle it. she was powerful and though, just like him. 

“Set our course to port Tortuga! We will load up!”

His crew cheered on, as they always do. The sun was already drying his skin, and it was a nice feeling the salt drying up in his skin. He now could go back to sailing as he loved so much.

“So…” Jamison said behind him, laughing nervously. “Where will I be stayin’?”

Oh, right. The holding cells were ruined, he wouldn’t be able to have Jamison jailed there anymore. Mako could place him with his crew and have them keep an eye on him, but as much as he liked his crew, they were really stupid. If he had been able to “charm” them before, he surely would do it again.  
His ship was not made to keep someone jailed. Apart from the holding cells there wasn’t really any place he could stash Jamison as a prisoner, lest the little shit would escape and steal shit and hoard t like a rodent.

It seemed Jamison knew about Mako’s predicament, even if he still had his shark mask on. Jamison laughed, pretty much beaming at the realization.

“Seems we’re gonna be roommates for a while, eh?”

 

Mako wished for lightning to strike him, killing him instantly.


	4. Sapphire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, what now Cap’n?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mako ponders, and Jamison gives a little show.
> 
> HELLO! This chapter is kind of short. Don't worry tho, we are going to get to the real fun soon enough!!  
> Mako is going to ponder his life decisions in this chapter. Don't we all, Mako??
> 
> Thank you for reading!!! I hope you guys like it!!!!

“So, what now Cap’n?”

Mako blinked as he was brought back to reality. He stared at his crewmates, all of them expecting his new orders as in where to go. He refused to let them know how frustrated he was with the Jester situation. Instead, he walked up to them, feet making the floorboard of the ship creak, and he hollered to the wind.

“Set sail for Tortuga!”

His men cheered, immediately getting into positions as they got in track to their new destination. Mako stared at the horizon- it should be about four days to get to land. He needed to make a list of everything they needed, things that would be necessary for the trips to come… and try to find supplies to fix the holding cell for the Jester.  
Right, the Jester. The Jester that was standing nervously next to him, laughing that god awful stupid smile of his. 

“If you get out of my sight for an instant, I will gut you and take out all your treasure myself.”

“Bossy,” Jamison giggled. When Mako didn’t laugh or moved he stopped it, gulping. 

“Is it really necessary-”

“Yes,” Mako interrupted his crewmate, not even bothering to see who it was that spoke. “You morons cannot be trusted to not fall to… whatever he does.”

“Charms!” Jamison said excitedly. 

Mako slapped the back of his head.

 

\---

 

All things considered, the day was okay. Mako thought that Jamison’s presence would be outright annoying, but it seemed that Mako’s threats worked on the Jester. He was quietly at his side, playing with his fingers and staring at everything.  
He would occasionally try and touch something, to which Mako slapped his hand away and he would retreat it like a scolded child. It was kind of endearing, he had to admit.  
The sky was clear, the waves were calm- it had been a good for sailing, even if he had the Jester glued to him. 

By the time dinner rolled, everybody had gathered into the dining room. A huge room, big enough to fit all of his burly crewmates and himself, the tables had been broken and repaired several times, carved with knives, axes and other weapons. Rustic. The walls were decorated with random swords and weapons just stabbed in the wood. Many fights had been taken place in that room, and it showed.  
The entire crew was there, slamming their jugs on the tables and spilling rum everywhere, or just drinking it out of the bottle. When done, they just slammed the bottles on the floor, spilling the leftover rum across the floor along with pieces of glass. It was chaos, but they were used to it. 

Mako sat on his special seat at the top of the table. Jamison sat next to him, eating his portion of food. Whenever he dared to move or to get up Mako gripped his shoulder until it hurt, forcing him down. He considered for a while putting a leash on him, but the idea had been far too entertaining in a very _specific_ sense, so he scrapped it.  
Jamison on a leash. _Hmm_.

He crammed the feeling away, instead shoving a piece of fish into his mouth. He had lifted his mask just barely enough to eat. He could feel Jamison’s stare but the Jester contained himself. Good move, otherwise he would have slammed his head on the table. 

“Hey!” Someone yelled at the other end of the table, grimey finger pointed at Jamison. “We’re bored, ya should do somethin’!”

Everybody yelled in agreement, asking Jamison to do something. He was a Jester, after all- he was supposed to do entertaining things. After few seconds of screaming Jamison stood up, hands in the air.

“Well, well, I would love tha make one of me routines with ya mates, but I ain’t sure Cap’n Rutledge is gonna approve of that!”

Mako rumbled, pondering. He had taken some bottles of rum, and was feeling pretty content that day. He covered his lips with his mask, head leaning back as he laughed deeply. 

“Yeah, okay. Let’s see what you can do.” He leaned into the table as the rest of the crew laughed along. “You were the royal Jester, no? I bet you have some good tricks.”

Jamison laughed nervously, and nodded. “Sure, mate! Will do. Ya got anythin’ I can use though? I am afraid ya took away me juggling balls-”

“These?!” One of the crewmates yelled, throwing a burlap sack into the table. The contents spilled, the metallic decorated balls rolling out of it.

“Oh, am I glad to see ya!” He climbed into the table, grabbing the balls and inspecting them. “Aight then, let’s start the show then, shall we!”

Everybody cheered but Mako, who just sat back with hands resting on his gut. Jamison strode to the middle of the table, his hands moving as he started to juggle the balls on the air without even looking. 

“Oi, say mates, Ya ever heard tha good story of how his Majesty’s maids went on a strike, eh? He didn’t even know how tha bathe ‘imself! He didn’t know what to even wear!” Laughter reverberated on the room, the men laughing at the tales. “Ya heard that one, If tha king looks naked, then ‘e is naked? Well let me tell ya folks- he IS naked!”

More laughter as he kept throwing the balls in a wider circle. “Hey, throw me somethin! I can catch it!” 

Mako wasn’t surprised the first thing he was thrown was a dagger.  
Jamison managed to catch it with his mechanical hand, throwing it along the other balls and masterfully juggling it like it was nothing. 

“Ya think I was gonna be surprised! How ya think I lost this hand! Not like this! Throw me somethin’ else, mate! Try and really kill me!”

Next was a small axe. Once again Jamison managed to catch it in time, throwing it in the air. “Hey I got an idea! Throw me somethin’ on fire!”

No, they shouldn’t do that. Mako was about to scream that they should not give this idiot fire, lest he burns the entire ship down but one of his crewmates already set something on fire (like he was ready for it, the maniac) and threw it to Jamison. Surprising to Mako, he caught it as well and began to juggle it.

“Ya know, tha last crowd I did this for, they threw me tomatos to me face! Wasn’t able to catch those ones, and they tasted a bit rotten, too!”

“I am bored,” Mako said with his gruff voice prompting everybody to stare at him, even the jester. “Is that all you got?”

“Tha’ Captain requests, and I will deliver!” He caught the metal balls, letting the dagger and axe fall and embed themselves into the table. Mako was worried about the fire, but Jamison caught the piece of wood, flames still spouting from one end.

Before Mako’s eyes, Jamison opened his mouth and swallowed the fire.  
The crowd went crazy, gasping and hissing in sympathetic pain. However, Jamison simply took the smoldering piece of wood out, spitting smoke in a seductive way before he threw the ruined wood at Mako. The Jester licked his lips, tongue red but not burnt like he expected it to be.

Who was this guy?

Mako was now extremely interested. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the jester.

“I have a lil more trick with fire on me arsenal, but I don’t think it would be wise to do it ‘ere! Could bring the entire place down, ahaha! Perhaps some other day! For now,” Jamison grabbed one of the swords stabbed into the wall. He attempted to yank it free, but wasn’t strong enough. “Can someone help me get this one please?”

The closest crewmate helped, yanking the sword in one try. “Oh Captain, ye sure employ the strongest of the world!” He giggled, grabbing the sword and twirling it into the air. Mako was very, very curious as to what he would do next.

“Ya know, even tha we tha staff live in tha castle, we barely get fed. I started eatin’ gems when I was a tike- thought it would make me grow strong like a rock!” He stared at the Captain, tall from the middle of the table. Everybody was enthralled, eyes fixated on him. It was surreal.

“Instead I developed a strong throat and stomach! So strong, i just kept swallowin’ bigger and bigger things!” He raised the sword to the air, and everybody went really quiet as Jamison tilted his head back, the tip of the sword directly above his lips.

“I’m gonna need some silence mates, I ain’t want to slice myself up!”

It wasn’t necessary for him to say that, the room fell into a heavy silence. Mako stared as how Jamison opened his mouth, sword dipping into his mouth and traveling low. He saw how Jamison’s chest twitched a bit as the sword kept sinking deep into him, up to the hilt. The metal clacked against his teeth, and he let go of it and raised his hands, waiting for applause.  
They applauded him, screaming and yelling. Jamison pulled the sword out in a quick motion and Mako wondered how he didn’t slice his intestines up. Not only that, but on the tip of the sword was something shiny and golden. Jamison picked the amulet up, and walked towards Mako, handing him the golden amulet. It was expensive and beautiful, covered in a layer of saliva too. 

“My thanks to tha’ Captain, for lettin’ me show me tricks!” He bowed as everybody cheered, his tall body illuminated by the light inside of the room. “It has been, so far, a pleasure.”

What a damn lie, a stupid lie that Mako could see through. Told only because Jamison hoped he would get more personal with Mako, so he could keep his interest up. Sma eiwh the show, and the gems.

But damn if it didn’t work.

 

\---

 

Mako wasn’t a slight sleeper. He would wake up if he heard anything out of the ordinary, something dangerous approaching. Which is why it was surprising he didn’t wake up to see Jamison already going through his things.

The Captain stood up from his bed immediately. He hadn’t taken off his mask while sleeping (not until Jamison didn’t have to bunk with him), and he took Jamison’s arm harshly. The Jester dropped the treasure he was holding, the expensive clock bouncing lightly on the floor. It didn’t break, however, which was good. 

“I thought I tied you up.” Mako said in a gruff voice. He wasn’t an idiot, and tied up one of Jamison’s ankles so he wouldn’t be able to move so much and shoved him into the corner. The weasel had managed to wriggle himself out of the rope, now wandering for who knows how many hours in Mako’s room, unattended.

“Y-yeah! I got me free! Sorry Mate I am just,” He was nervous, hand motioning to all the treasure on Mako’s room. “I was just really curious about all these goods! They- they’re beauts, aren’t they?”

Mako huffed. He look around, and it didn’t seem that anything was misplaced. By the looks of it Jamison hadn’t had time to go through his drawers, so he couldn’t have stolen anything. 

“If you eat any of my things, I will gut you like I should have done the first day.”

“Oi- roight, I ain’t stupid, mate. How would I get away? Swimmin? Aha! I don’t swim! Just sink like a rock!” Mako didn’t let go of him, however. “Just- I mean, I was curious- ya know? I- I’ve heard that paintin’ over there is one of tha’ most famous on tha’ continent, ain’t it?”

He pointed at the painting on the wall. Ah, one of his finest acquisitions.

“What was it’s name, again? Bloomin’ lady?”

“Flower woman,” Mako replied, letting go of Jamison as he stared at the painting propped up on the wall. The pastel colors were beautiful, and the composition was exquisite as well. Something beyond its time. “Made one hundred years ago. Exquisit application of the fibonacci circle.”

“Really? Uh, who was tha painter?”

Mako knew that Jamison just wanted him to forget he had untied himself, but Mako could forgive it at the moment. “Many believe the author is Simon Garland- but it is a lie. The painter was his sister, Emily Garland.”

“...Ya really know about paintin’s, huh?”

“I am not an idiot, despite what your employers believe.” He looked around everything in his room, all the cultural artifacts he had stolen. “I know about every single thing I’ve taken.”

“Oooh, I thought ya just liked riches!” Jamison beamed, looking around at the room happily.

“I do.”

“How did ya even steal that paintin’? Heard there was heavy security”

“Sneaked in.”

“Sneaked in? A man yer size? That’s pretty impressive, aha!” Jamison laughed, slightly elbowing Mako in the gut. “That gotta be an interestin’ story, eh?”

“I am not interested in telling stories.” Mako huffed, already going on his way to exit the room. Jamison followed behind like a shadow, keeping close. 

“Oh, but I bet ya got amazing ones about ye stealin’ all these riches, eh? Ya sure ya don’t wanna tell?”

Mako huffed in annoyance, and judging by the silence Jamison took it as a no.

“...So, when we gonna reach land?” He asked nervously as he followed Mako. 

“Should be three days, if we don’t have any more interruptions.”

“What we gonna do at land?”

“Provisions.”

“What kind of provisions?”

Mako turned to stare at him, annoyed. He got the gist of what Mako meant, and shut up with a smile on his face. 

“Once the holding cell is repaired you will go down there once again.”

“Aw, come on Cap’n, ya tellin’ me ya don’t enjoy my presence?” 

Mako didn’t say a thing, instead staring into the sea. 

“Did my tricks yesterday not excite ya? It was specifically for ye!” 

“Shut up,” He huffed, annoyed. “I don’t want to hear anything else from you.”

Jamison giggled, and then shut up as soon as Mako stared at him again. That kept him quiet the entire time, repeating the process of the previous day- the Captain welcomed any quiet he could have at the moment. He wasn’t used to having someone constantly next to him, nevermind someone with such a whiny voice.  
He was too distracted to notice a small circle of his mates gathered behind him. Curious, Mako turned around to see what the ruckus was about. They were gathered in a circle, staring at Jamison once again. The man was bend in a weird position, and Mako had to stare at him for few seconds to understand what he was doing.

Jamison was standing up… technically. His body was bent backwards, his pelvis standing straight but his back arching incredibly so. Jamison somehow managed to pass his head through his legs, his hands grabbing at his own legs for support, and looking at everybody from there. It was like a ragdoll without bones. Maybe he didn’t have any. Who knew at this point.

Mako was… he didn’t know how he felt. He was parts impressed, parts nauseated and parts… _something_ that stirred in his belly. He got close to Jamison, to inspect him further.

“Aye aye Cap’! I was just stretchin’ a little and it seems i caught a bit of attention, eh?” He laughed. Mako could see how his ribs and hipbones were poking out of his skin, like they were ready to rip. His skin was stretched tight, pale and freckled. Mako couldn’t stop staring at him, at how… how fascinating he looked. He was a freak show, but in a good way. 

“Gotta do this once in awhile, or then It will take some time before i can do it again!” He laughed, his thin bones rattling. “What do ya think, mate? Likin’ tha view?”

Honestly? He was. Mako remembered what his crewmates had said about Jamison, how it would “entertain” Mako. They surely meant so he could do tricks like this and like the previous day, to keep him from being bored. But they probably meant something else. The very obvious alternative no one really dared to speak about lest Mako gut them.  
Maybe Mako really did need it. How long has it been? A while. No one really wants to hang out with a man with his reputation, lest actually fuck him. For one, he wasn’t particularly attractive, and the men he sexually enjoyed really didn’t want anything to do with him.

Men like Jamison, actually. Opposite of him, slender and thin, could be crushed in one hand.  
He couldn’t care less about Jamison. The only thing he wanted was the gems in his belly, and the treasure he had stashed away. The moment Mako got that was the moment Jamison would be out of his life. 

Maybe, just maybe he could have a little bit of fun before that happened. Nothing important, just some-  
He grunted. What was he thinking? He was a pirate Captain first, and he had a ship to command. He was not going to fuck the goddamn Jester that his stupid pirates stole for him. No big deal. He was going to get the treasure and then throw Jamison into the ocean. Done.

“Well?” Jamison asked, smiling coyly and staring up at Mako, still in his twisted position.

 

Mako pushed him slightly, making Jamison lose his balance and crash into the ground loudly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that Mako knows a LOT about art and literature and the like.


	5. Agate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two more days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trouble at sea.
> 
> HELLO! Here is another chapter! This one was pretty fun to write, And i hope y'all like it!! The story is moving a long, I promise there is an actual plot in this fic, ahaha. We are just sloooowly making our way through it.  
> I also want to thank everybody who has read it and left nice comments and has drawn stuff for this ;_; you guys keep me going, and i love y'all. I'll personally marry every single one of you i love u ok. 
> 
> I hope y'all like it!!!! Thank you so much for reading!!

Two more days. 

Two more days, and they would arrive to Tortuga.

It was the little goal Mako had set to himself. To just hold on until Tortuga, and then things would hopefully get better and less annoying. He would still have the Jester, but at least he could indulge himself a little. Get himself some fancy food. Fancy himself with some riches. Visit the Sea witch.

Right, the Sea witch. Mako sighed, making the mental note that he needs to get something for her. Maybe the diamond and gold ring Jamison puked the other day. 

He shifted under his sheets, sighing. It was still early, and he could indulge himself by lying on the bed. He was the Captain, after all. He could lay in bed all damn day if he wished it so.  
Quietly, he looked towards the other side of the room.  
Jamison was curled against the floor. Mako had forced him to sleep on the bare floor at first, but then he felt like an asshole, so he gave him a pillow and some sheets. He still was tied by his ankle, however. He wasn’t stupid.  
Mako sighed as he noticed how the man was still asleep. He still couldn’t decide if the Jester was a good or bad thing. Just having someone on his ship that wasn’t part of his crew made Mako anger rise up his throat. 

But once again, the King’s riches may be worth it. Not to mention, the Jester wasn’t so bad, it seemed. That little show of his had been interesting. It stirred something inside of Mako.  
He remembered it, the way Jamison’s pale skin looked under the light. The way his stomach hitched when he swallowed that sword. It was something-  
Mako interrupted his own thoughts. It really has been a long time, hasn’t it? Maybe he would buy himself some sex when he was in Tortuga. What could he say? He had a type. Jamison’s presence there just made him realize how long it has been since Mako had a good fuck.

He couldn’t stop thinking about that show, though.

Sighing, he reached over down his shorts, palming the bulge between his legs. His eyes were focused on Jamison, making sure the Jester wouldn’t randomly wake up. The man had his back facing Mako, sound asleep. Mako exhaled softly as he rubbed himself.  
He had to be quiet so he wouldn’t wake Jamison up and ruin his fun. He could do that.  
Mako took a deep breath, closing his eyes and attempting to get himself to the edge. He wasn’t thinking of nothing in particular, just relaxing as he rubbed the head. He felt his piercing, and he pressed the metallic bead that protruded from his tip.  
He gasped, immediately staring at Jamison to make sure he hadn’t been too loud. The man didn’t stir so it seemed Mako was doing a good job to keep himself quiet. 

After a while, he finally came. It wasn’t particularly that good, but it relieved some tension from his body. He sighed, smearing his come into the mattress below him. It would do for now.  
He laid in the bed however, staring at the ceiling.

Two days. 

 

\---

 

“I want you to make a list of everything we need to stock up on Tortuga.”

“Yes, Captain!” 

The man ran to start making inventory of everything they need. Meanwhile Mako called another one of his crewmates, indicating him to come close. “What is the status of the holding cell?”

“We have cleaned it, sir- it ain't flooded anymore. We ain’t got the materials to fix it, however.”

“Mm… make sure we get everything we need for that and further repairs when we reach land. Do we have materials for emergency repairs?”

“Yes sir!” The pirate left to continue his tasks. Mako turned around to face the Jester who still was following like indicated. He looked down to him, easily looming over the man.

“The moment the holding cell is repaired, you will remain there for the rest of our trip.”

“Oi, I guess me charms weren’t good enough for ye, eh?”

Mako let out a low growl, and Jamison chuckled nervously. 

“Learn your place, Jester. Remember you are a prisoner of this ship.”

“I’m bein’ non confrontational! I even give ya nice gems. How may I convince tha’ Captain I am nothin’ but just a simple Jester?”

“By keeping quiet.” Mako turned around, already starting to walk away and into his cabin. Jamison chuckled behind him.

“So I’m guessin’ ya didn’t like me personal show last night, eh?”

Mako’s hand was instantly on his throat. He didn’t apply much pressure, but it made the Jester gasp in surprise as Mako lifted him off the ground. 

“Keep quiet, Jester.” Mako said lowly, as Jamison laughed nervously while at his grasp. His hands tried to find support on Mako’s wrist. “Or else I will pull those gems out of you myself.”

“U-Understood!” He kept laughing, with that awful voice of his. “Me apologies mate, I am a man of nothin’ but jokes an’ tricks! It’s me nature!”

Mako pressed his fingers a little, getting the air out of Jamison. He wasn’t going to kill him, but it was fun to see how the man squirmed. 

“Ya won’t kill me, big guy.” Jamison chuckled out. 

“Oh? How idiotic to think that way.”

“Ya tha’ same as me, mate. Ya greddy.” He could barely talk, with his windpipe being slowly crushed, but he laughed all the same. “But not just by gold, but by somethin’ else, eh?”

At this point the rest of the pirate crew were surrounding them, staring silently. Mako could feel how nervous they were, but no one dared say a thing. 

“Ya like who it comes from, eh? Ya can’t stop thinkin’ about takin’ away the King’s riches, from his own hands!” Jamison coughed, barely able to breath. “That’s really what gets ya goin’, eh? Tha thought of just takin’ it away from him. Fuck tha’ riches, you want to take what’s his, and make it yours. Ain’t that roight?”

Hah.  
Haha.

Mako couldn’t stop laughing. He roared in laughter, his head leaning back as he just kept laughing hysterically. No one else laughed, just stared.

“Congratulations, Jester. You just ended your life.”

Mako began crushing his throat slowly, staring as Jamison began to struggle for air, fingers gripping at him as his lips started to turn blue. Mako awaited for it, holding his breath. It would be so, so good.

“ _Captain_!” A voice yelled from up from the mast. Mako grunted.

“I am _busy_ ,” He stared up at Jones, who hanged from the bast and stared ahead. He still didn’t let go of Jamison. “What is-”

“The Howling Owl! It’s intercepting us!”

“ _What_?!” Mako dropped Jamison harshly, and the young man yelped as he crashed against the floor. The entire crew started to run about, getting into position as Mako went towards the edge of the boat.

A ship was making its way towards them. He very knew that ship, alright. It was the Howling Owl, the crew and Captain being people Mako has had to deal before. He hadn’t had the opportunity of killing them the last time he had to fight them, but now he wished so much he had done so. 

Normally it wouldn’t be a difficult battle for Mako, and yet they were running low on supplies. They didn’t have enough cannonballs, and his men were tired. Mako absolutely hated the thought of running from a fight, but perhaps today it would be the correct answer.

“Do not engage! We do not have enough power.”

“Aye, Captain!” But Mako knew it was too late. There was no way they could get away in time, specially with the currents and the air. The sea was not at their favor that day.

“Shit,” Mako cursed under his breath as he saw the ship approaching fast. “Get ready to repeal them! Load up the cannons!”

“Loadin’ them up, Captain!”

“Do not let them hook us! We will fight them off, like we’ve always had!”

Mako could hear cheering behind him. Everybody was pumped, and the air stunk of adrenaline. He knew they could fight them off, but it was going to be tricky and annoying. But they would. Nothing would take the Sea Hog from his hands.

“Wait wait wait wait,” The Jester basically crawled towards Mako, his hands on the railing and staring at the huge pirate ship getting near them. “We gonna fight those guys?!”

“Yes, because they are stupid enough to try again.” Mako hissed. 

“Ya fought ‘em before?!”

“Yes. And we will again!”

Once again, everybody cheered. He could feel his heart beating against his chest in excitement. He wasn’t worried anymore. He awaited for the fight with a locked jaw.  
Jamison seemed nervous, however. Mako’s resolve to kill him vanished, knowing that he could get that itch out soon enough. After all, even if he didn’t want to admit it Jamison was right. He needed him and wouldn’t kill him.

“Get in my cabin,” Mako growled at him. Jamison stared at him with wide eyes, surprised that he was going to let him alone on his room.

“I don’t have time to tie you up. If I see something missing, I will shove my arm up your throat and retrieve it myself. Now, go! Only I get to kill you.”

Jamison didn’t seem to be in the mood to say anything witty about that. Instead he bolted as fast as he could towards Mako’s cabin, slamming the door and staying there. Good, now Mako wouldn’t worry about him dying or falling off the deck. 

Mako could hear the screaming from the other ship’s pirates as they approached. It was time.  
Who knew. Maybe a little bit of blood would improve his mood.

The Howling Owl got closer, and Mako could see its Captain, grinning like an idiot. Captain Arthur, a man about the same age as Mako. He was missing an eye and an ear, courtesy of Mako. He laughed when he remembered that time. Ah, that had been a good day.  
The ship swerved, aligning itself more with the Howling Owl in a quick manner. Mako knew that the Sea Hog firepower was far more powerful than their opponent, maybe this fight would be over before it really started.

“Fire!”

The Sea Hog shot first and deadly. She was fast big and powerful, just like Mako. The way he liked her. The cannonballs traveled through the air until they hit the Howling Owl’s side. The ship rocked, but started shooting as well. Most of the cannonballs didn’t reach the Sea Hog but the ones that did left holes on their wake.

“Fix the holes! We cannot let them sink us!” Mako’s voice boomed through the air. The crewmates did as told, as they kept firing at the enemy.

Their battle lasted for some minutes, neither of them giving up. With every cannonball that reached his ship, Mako felt more and more anxious. 

“Fire!” he screamed once again, but nothing happened.

“Why are we not firing?!” He could feel another cannonball hitting the Sea Hog. The ship rocked from side to side. 

“Captain, we ran outta cannonballs!”

Fuck. Now what? Mako heard a tale of some pirates using silverware as ammo. It sounded desperate however, and probably didn’t work. 

“They’re getting closer, Captain!” Just as he finished speaking a hook lodged itself on the Sea Hog’s deck. After it, many more. They were being raided.

“Ahahaha!” Mako hollered, taking the scimitar tied at his side and holding it in the air. “Time to kill us some Owls!” 

Everybody got ready, brandishing their swords and weapons. The pirates from the Howling Owl started to descend into the Sea Hog via the rope and hooks. Some of Mako’s crewmates snapped the ropes, pirates falling screaming into the ocean. They kept doing that, but eventually they were too many as they step foot into the deck.

And the fighting begun. 

Mako trusted his crewmates. They were big and powerful, not as much as him but still. Blood splattered in the deck of his ship as his crewmates tore apart the invaders. Mako himself swung his scimitar, slicing open a poor idiot that happened to be too close. His guts fell into the deck, and god wasn’t that a good sight for sore eyes.  
He hollered, slicing the intruders with his sword. Blood splattered all over his belly and into his mask, but he didn’t stop. Every body he cut, the better he felt. It was exactly what he needed.

“Arthur, you idiot! Get here and fight me like the man you pretend to be!” Mako hollered, slaughtering the pirates that came across him. “If you have a death wish, you could just tell me!”

Mako turned, trying to find where the hell Captain Arthur was. Normally at this point he would be fighting Mako, talking about how he was going to take his eye and ear back or other stupid shit. What was taking him?

He felt uneasiness on his stomach. Something was wrong, but what?

“Aha!” 

His eyes widened as Mako rapidly turned towards the source. Somehow his crew full of morons didn’t notice the Howling Owl Captain making his way to Mako’s Cabin, using his own sword o smash open the lock.

“No!” Mako yelled, slaughtering his way towards his own room. He could hear Daniel’s yelling at him as he opened the doors.

“Ya know I heard some rumors ya somehow managed to sneak into the King’s castle and steal some goods from him, perhaps you would like to share your findings?!”

“I will cut your head off!” 

“What do we got here?”

Captain Arthur along with other of his pirates entered the room and Mako heard a loud screeching noise.  
Jamison.  
_Fuck._

The pirates dragged the Jester out, knives poking at the man and shoving him into the deck.

“Rutledge, I didn’t fancy you a kidnapper. What is it that you said… leave no survivors?” The pirates threw Jamison into the ground, a booth into his back to prevent him from standing up. The Jester whimpered, baring his teeth. “Or did you just go soft?”

Everybody around them kept fighting on, but Mako stood there staring at Captain Arthur. He didn’t want to make him think he had any sort of leverage, but if he killed Jamison then there would be no more promise of treasure. His brain was churning gears as he tried to figure out what he should do.

“Oi- oi!! Hey Mate, no need tha’ be rough, eh! I am just but a simple Jester!” He waved his hands in the air in a sign of not being dangerous. Captain Arthur stared down at him.

“A Jester? Were you bored, Mako? You wanted to entertain your men?” He grabbed Jamison by the hair and pulling it back, his sword pressed against Jamison’s neck. “Why would you want such a Jester? Is there any special about you, boy?”

“J-just a Jester, mate! Can’t get more special than that, eh?”

“What is that?” One of the pirates yelled, crouching and grabbing something at Jamison’s belt. 

“Wait, don’t-”

“Hey Captain Rutledge!” Arthur screamed. He grabbed whatever Jamison was holding, lifting it into the air and waving it. It was a bottle of rum, a bottle Mako recalled being in his room. God damnit. “Seems your Jester likes to steal your alcohol!”

Mako growled low as Arthur opened the bottle and took a swig of it. That was very expensive rum, damnit. 

“Oh, it seems we’ve found where you keep most of your treasure!” 

“If you touch any of that-”

Jamison was held up, swords pressed against his throat and belly. Mako hesitated- if Jamison was gutted they would take what was his. They seemed to figure out he was important but couldn’t figure out why.

“You know, I do have plenty of riches already… I don’t possibly need any of this.” Arthur grabbed one of the unlit torches at the wall of the ship, shoving it into the face of one of his pirates who lit it up instantly. “I think it is time to add some flames into your collection, eh?”

Mako panicked, many things passed through his head. This fucker was going to set his room in fire and destroy all of his treasure, he needed to-

“Hey- hey mate.” Jamison winked at Arthur. “Hey- Can I talk to ye for a minute? Before ya, uh, set tha’ place ablaze?” He smiled that stupid smile of his.

“What.” Arthur hissed. Jamison flinched, the swords still pressed into his skin. 

“Tha’ tell ya the truth, I hate it ‘ere. These guys are tha’ worst! Can I be in yer ship instead? I know tricks! I can entertain ye and your crew, that’s for sure!”

That goddamn fucking Jester was going to die. If Arthur didn’t kill him, Mako was going ot make sure to twist his little neck until his head came off.

“Is it really? Can you juggle? I love jugglers.” Arthur smiled, actually considering the proposition. He was, after all, pretty stupid. 

“I can juggle! I- I can show ye right now! I- I also do some pretty nice tricks!”

“Very well,” Arthur made a motion with his head, and the pirates let go of Jamison. “Entertain me. Fail, and I will kill you right here, Jester.” He pointed the flame towards Jamison face. The Jester just laughed. 

Meanwhile Mako was very slowly making his way towards them, it seemed everybody was busy with their own fight and Arthur was too distracted with Jamison. 

“Have ya heard tha’ story of how tha’ King got lost on his own castle?” He hummed, taking his juggling metallic balls from a pocket at his hip. They clinked together, as he started to throw them into the air and juggled them. “It took ‘im an entire week tha’ get back to his bedroom! Tha’ maids avoided ‘im cus they didn’t want to help at all!”

Arthur stared, chuckling. Mako kept creeping towards them, blade in hand. 

“Not impressive, eh? Just watch!” He started juggling with only one hand. His mechanical hand reached towards the bottle of rum Arthur was still holding. “Oi, can ya spare a bit? I didn’t get to drink a drop of it after all!”

Arthur laughed and let him. Jamison took the bottle, taking a swig of the alcohol as he kept juggling with only one hand. He shifted, the pocket at his hip opening as he threw all balls into the air. One by one, they landed into Jamison’s pocket.

“Mmm, impressive.” He whispered. Jamison stared at him with curious eyes. “I don’t feel too entertained, perhaps.

The Jester smiled, but didn't open his lips. He lifted one finger, the other one still holding the bottle. He stared with wide eyes at Arthur, who was waiting for his next trick.

 

Jamison spat the rum into the torch Arthur was holding. 

 

The fire spread into the Captain of the Howling Owl, immediately catching fire. He ran around screaming in terror, letting drop the torch he was holding. Quickly Jamison picked it up, turning towards his other captors as he took another swig of the rum, spitting it directly into the flame and creating a flamethrower out of his mouth.  
Mako saw as how the fire engulfed them all, the alcohol and gunpowder impregnated into their dirty clothes making it easier for the flames to burn at their skin. They screamed in terror and agony, running in circles as fire consumed them.

Without skipping a beat Jamison jumped, landing into the main deck. Mako’s crewmates crouched barely in time as Jamison kept spitting fire into their attackers. It was chaos, the smell of burning flesh reaching Mako’s nose even through his filters. The smoke was heavy as the bodies slumped into the floor and died, others frantically opting for jumping into the shark infested ocean as a last resort. 

Mako saw how the body of Captain Arthur crumpled, half melted and crisp. He still wiggled, somehow alive. Mako would have crushed his skull but he decided he enjoyed seeing how the life literally melted out of him. 

“The Captain is dead! The Captain is dead!” The remaining pirates hollered, as they retreated into the Howling Owl. Jamison kept spewing fire, burning the ropes of some of them as they attempted to climb back, falling into the ocean to die. With the last bit of alcohol, he spit fire towards the deck of the ship as it tried to get away, managing to get the deck to catch on fire. The survivors were pathetically attempting to stop it from spreading, but it seemed they failed.  
As the Sea Hog got away, Mako saw how the Howling Owl stayed behind, becoming a shining orange light. 

Mako looked around him. The deck was full of burnt corpses, and fire. There was some fire on the deck, but his crew actually managed to extinguish it unlike their attackers. He was, honestly, in shock. Mako couldn’t process what had just happened even if he was staring at the smoldering remains of Arthur that were now glued into his deck. He stared down at it, and kicked it. It was like melted caramel, the way it stuck into his boot.

 

“Uh, sorry ‘bout yer rum, mate.” 

He looked up. Jamison stared at him, his lips pink from the heat, his face sweaty and red. He held the expensive and now empty bottle of rum in his hand. The still flaming torch was in his other palm. 

“You…” He looked back at the corpse, and then up to Jamison once again. “You did this. You… How?”

“It ain’t easy, mate.” He laughed, breathlessly. Mako could smell the alcohol in his breath. “Takes way too much practice. But, hey. When ya tha’ King’s Jester, ya gotta learn how tha’ entertain, eh?”

Mako tilted his head. He could see from the corner of his eyes that his crewmates were trying to not stare at them, as they cleaned the corpses off the deck and threw them into the ocean. 

“...I didn’t mean it, uh. What I told ‘im. That I rather be with ‘em.” He smiled, showing his teeth. “All part of tha’ plan, eh? I never meant tha’ drink yer room. Just- just in case, eh?”

Jamison giggled loudly. “Seems it worked.”

Mako took a deep breath, taking the bottle of rum from his hand. It was a very big, heavy bottle. It had a lot of alcohol on it. 

“...Good job.” He whispered softly at Jamison. The Jester stared at him, and chuckled.

“Ain’t no problem, mate.” He threw the torch towards the ocean, where it sank. “Ain’t gotta let this beaut get raided like that, eh?”

Mako nodded. Yeah. Sure.

It was all about the ship, that’s all.

 

\---

 

His skin ached. The hot flames managed to hurt his skin a little, if only by accident. He didn’t think Jamison would want to burn Mako on purpose.  
Mako sighed as he laid on his bed. It was late, it must be the middle of the night but he couldn’t sleep. His skin ached too much, and it wasn’t because of the flames.  
The image of Jamison spitting fire, burning down his enemies was flashing behind his eyes. His tall body bending as he spat the alcohol directly into the flame, not afraid of consequences.  
How can a man turn into that? Into something that would burn his enemies to death without hesitation. Something that is so risky, it could kill him, and doing it without any actual care.

Dying, if it meant killing your enemy.

Mako could get behind that. It seemed like a good tactic. Dying and taking someone with you. If Mako was going to die, that is how he would want to go.  
He wanted to pretend that it was just admiration of his abilities, but Mako very well knew it was something more. After today’s events it was pretty impossible to ignore it. It was there, and it hungered. It lingered in his loins, in his spine, making a knot on his throat when he remembered just how good Jamison looked like. 

Once again the Jester had fallen asleep on the corner of his room, still tied. He sighed in his sleep, turning gently into his side, his face now aimed at Mako.  
His lips were still pink from the burning, but apart from that he seemed calm.

Mako took very deep breath.

The flames, the death, the smell of charred bodies made his blood rush. His mouth tasted of lust, the screams of agony of the now defunct Daniel made his hand crept lower into his crotch, rubbing at it and twisting with his fingers. The thought of someone so skinny and fragile looking as Jamison managing to murder so many people, no remorse made his heart race.  
His breath hitched as his fingers twisted the head of his dick. He palmed at it, pressing his cock and twisting it. The heel of his feet dug into the mattress, his head pressed against the soft pillow. He closed his fist around his erection, making a little hole out of his huge palm. He thrusted at it, thinking about Jamison while doing so. 

Jamison, spitting fire.  
Jamison, burning them to death.

He sped up, thrusting into his own palm as he thought about the Jester. Not only the fire, but also his sword swallowing. It was all a tapestry of _things_ , something about him. He hated him, he hated him so much and yet his body was something that made Mako wish for more. It made him thirsty, wanting it all for himself. The thought of Arthur keeping him for himself made his stomach churn.

Jamison was _his_.

He came into his palm, ejaculate coating it. He just swiped it against his mattress, once again. He sighed, finally spent enough to fall asleep with his resolve in mind.

 

One more day, and they would arrive to Tortuga.  
One more day.


	6. Carnelian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What makes you think that you will be free to go?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They keep making their way to Tortuga
> 
> Hello!!!! Normally I don't update this fic this early in the week, but I had a clear image of what i wanted this chapter to be, so i was inspired! so here we are! yayy  
> This chapter was p fun to write. I hope y'all like it! Also, I promise, this thing actually does have a plot, but its going a bit slow. gotta set up some things first, aha.
> 
> Thank y'all for reading!!! I hope you guys like it!!!

“Status?”

“We’ve been able to repair all the damage from yesterday fight, Captain. Still, we should have ‘er checked up when we arrive to Tortuga.”

Mako growled, deep in thought. They were lucky that yesterday’s fight didn’t damage the ship too much, but his crewmate was right. They would have to take a good look at the Sea Hog when they arrived to land. Shouldn’t be too long, now. They should be arriving to Tortuga probably the next day.

“Good. If anything new comes up, tell me immediately and start fixing it. We are close to land, and I won’t let a stupid mistake sink us.”

“Aye, Captain!”

With that, his crewmate left to continue his duties. Mako sighed, with any luck they would arrive to Tortuga without any more hassle.  
He turned at Jamison who was still obediently following behind him. He looked to be staring at the horizon, not paying attention at all. He realized Mako was staring though, so he turned at the Captain and smiled, white teeth showing. 

“Hey,” He greeted.

“We will get to shore soon,” Mako said ignoring Jamison’s greeting. “I suppose you do not have a map for the inside of the Castle, do you?”

“Eh, it ain’t something they give to me,” Jamison giggled, scratching the back of his head. “I had one back when i was there, castle too big- I constantly would get lost! Ahaha!” He smiled, but Mako wasn’t laughing. The corner of the Jester’s mouth twitched. “If ya give me a map I can tell ya what is in where, and maybe we can devise somethin’ tha’ get to me treasure, eh?”

“Mmm... “ That wasn’t such a bad idea. Tortuga had a huge market, and Mako could probably find someone that had a map of the inside of the castle. He could break some necks.

“So how long ya think it’ll take, eh? A week? Two?” Jamison giggled nervously playing with his fingers. “How long till I gotta be ‘ere, eh?”

“...Too soon,” Mako growled. 

“Eh? What ya mean too soon?”

“We raided not too long ago. Have to wait. And Plan.”

Jamison bit his lip. Most of his makeup was smeared out, but the colors still stick to his face, he hadn’t had a chance to actually properly wash them off. Or he didn’t want to wash them off. Whatever. His lip was tinted blue, some pink peeking underneath the color. 

“What ya mean, plan? Didn’t ye and yer crew get there, while drunk? Shouldn’t be too hard, huh?”

Mako stared down at the man, head tilted. Normally everybody was put off at this point, afraid of the fact that they couldn’t even make out Mako’s expression. The pirate liked that. And yet, it seemed like Jamison wasn’t as afraid as most would be at this point. It made Mako feel… strange.

“That was different. Spur of the moment. This must be planned.”

“Yeah, I guess. Sure.” Jamison inspected his metallic hand. It was slightly charred from the fire from the previous day.

Mako wanted to ask where the hell he learned to do that. He had never really seen someone do that before, to just outright spit fire. Well, he had seen it but in a small scale, for entertainment purposes only. He never had seen it used like… like that. To actually fight with it. He probably learned it from the same place he learned how to do all those other strange tricks. Jester school, probably. Was there a school for Jesters?   
Mako decided he didn’t actually care. 

“Any idea of when that will be?” Jamison caught his attention once again. 

“Why, you have a busy schedule?”

Jamison laughed sarcastically. “Yeah, roight. Very funny. I just want tha’ know when I’ll be free to go, is all. Would like an actual date, ya know!”

“Free to go?” 

Jamison stared up at him, mouth twitching attempting to smile. “Yeah, ya know. I help ye get tha’ treasure, then… Ya gonna let me go, eh?”

“What makes you think that you will be free to go?”

Mako enjoyed the way Jamison squirmed. He may not be as terrifying to him like he was to everybody else, but he loved to see his skin twitch uncomfortable. God, it was such a good sight. 

“So what,” He once again smiled, but this time was different. It wasn’t full of joy and curiosity like he used to smile before. His canines showed, along with his pink gums. He looked like he was ready to attack but knew very well he would never win against Mako. It was impossible- the Captain just could snap his neck, easily. “Ya gonna kill me after ye get me treasure, eh?”

“Perhaps,” Mako rolled his tongue, paying close attention to every movement. “Maybe I’ll keep you alive, if you entertain me enough. You have until then. Or else…” He chuckled lowly. “The sharks will be fed.”

“Is that all? Just getting ya to like me, eh? That ain’t gonna be hard.” Jamison crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring up at Mako with defiance in his golden eyes. “I am a treat. Everyone loves me.”

“Do they, now? Or perhaps they just like your tricks?”

“Ah, but ya see. Ain’t nobody better to do them tricks than me.” Jamison winked. Mako snorted. This shall be fun.

It was a complete lie- he was going to throw Jamison to the sharks no matter what, but it would be fun to see how the Jester would try get Mako to like him. It would make the entire ordeal more entertaining, after all.

“I still got me some tricks under me sleeve, after all. I am a box of wonders.” He laughed. Mako stopped paying attention to him as he noticed that the sky started to get darker every minute. A storm…?

No. These clouds were different. 

 

Oh, crap.

 

“Ya should see what I can do with me-” Mako cut him off, his palm covering Jamison’s mouth. It seemed like the young man was going to protest, but realized how tense Mako was. 

Every single one noticed it. The entire crew went silent, only the sound of the waves audible. Mako made instructions with his palm, and his crew followed as quiet as they could. They stopped moving, putting away the sails making the ship move to a snail pace.

“Oi, what’s-” Mako shut him up once again, getting as close as Jamison’s face as he could.

“Red Tide.”

Jamison eyes went wide. Mako pointed at his cabin, and Jamison nodded. As quiet as he could the Jester pretty much ran towards the cabin like the previous day, locking himself in. Good. Now, they just had to keep quiet until the Red Tide passed.  
It felt like hours, before Mako saw it on the horizon. It was almost a dot, and Mako had to take out his spyglass to fully look at it.

 

He saw her, in all her glory. The Red Tide, a ship bigger than the Sea Hog, more beautiful, stronger. Seaweed decorated her, infused into its very being. Seaweed and pieces of reef, as if it had always been part of the sea.   
It was dragging something behind and it took Mako a while to realize what it was. The remains of the Howling Owl, being dragged to God knows where. 

He gulped, as he saw the Red Tide advance. He could see something behind the ship’s wheel, he could barely make out its features but Mako knew very well who the woman was.

Captain Daniels.

He kept still. He did not need that kind of shit right now. No one did. The Howling Owl was one thing, but the Red Tide? No. Never. That is a battle you would never get out of, specially now with so little provisions.  
With any luck, they would pass them, and not care. After all, they already had their hands full with the corpse of the Howling Owl, they surely wouldn’t care about the Sea Hog.  
Hopefully.

It felt like an eternity before the Red Tide was out of view, and everybody relaxed. However, Mako did not budge- there were still dark clouds on the sky. 

“We will not move until she is gone. I will not risk our lives for this.” He pointed at the sky. “Until the last dark cloud is gone, we will leave.”

Mako expected them to complain, and yet instead they seemed to appreciate the Captain's decisions.

 

\---

 

About two hours passed before the sky was clear once again. Everybody seemed to be anxious and worried until the darkness had gone away, and it would be dark soon enough. They could finally advance.

“Set destination to Tortuga- and make it quick! I want to arrive before we find damn Davey Jones out here.”

They all screamed in agreement, already setting sail towards their destination. Mako took a deep breath, figuring he should tell what just happened to the Jester.  
The Red Tide was just a myth, to some. But Pirates like Mako very well knew that it was real, and Captain Daniels was feared by Davey Jones himself. Luckily Jamison didn’t raise a fuss, he probably believed that it was more of a myth beforehand. 

He made his way towards his cabin, already exhausted from that day. The anxiety of waiting the ship to pass made a number on him, and he wished he could just sleep. Grabbing the door handle of his Cabin, Mako made his way in without even looking inside.

“Hey-”

“Fuck!”

Mako stared at the corner of the room. He slowly closed the door behind him, so one one could barge in. Then, he looked at Jamison once again.

The Jester was in the corner, his back against the walls. His flesh hand was shoved under his pants, and Mako could already see the head of his cock peeking, pink and swollen.   
Mako stared at the sight, Jamison sweating as he had been caught fondling himself. 

“F-fuck, I mean-” He laughed, as he tried to rise his pants so his erection was hidden, but Mako could still see the bulge it made on his crotch. “I thought- I thought we were gonna die, eh? Tha’ Red Tide… Hah! Heard about them. So- Ya know- We didn’t die, so I was… Celebratin’?”

Mako said nothing, staring at him. The Jester’s cheeks were flushed, sweat rolling down his chest. There was a warm blush across his torso, visible even through the smudged make up. He was panting, licking his lips as he was calming down, cornered and exposed. He looked just so vulnerable.   
Jamison stared at the Captain, unsure. He looked troubled, not knowing what was going to happen next, or what Mako’s reaction was going to be. He took a step forward, and Jamison tried to crawl away out of instinct, awaiting.

...But Mako didn’t know how to react.

He at first was furious Jamison was just goddamn fucking jerking off in his cabin. He wanted to be furious, but seeing the man sprawled on the floor in his current state was-  
Fuck.

God, _Fuck_.

Mako approached him quickly. Damn it all. The Jester’s eyes bulged out of his skull, terrified. He grabbed him by his skinny arm, lifting him up. His other palm cupped at his erection, pressing his palm into the bulge.   
Jamison moaned, surprised by the action. He stared at Mako while blushing, the Captain pressing harder against it. He moaned louder, head pressed back against the wall.

“Is that an agreement?” Mako asked. 

“No matter what I say, ya gonna do it anyways.”

Mako let go of him, and Jamison looked at him surprised. 

“I would not. I am not that kind of monster.” He looked down at Jamison, his hands placed at the sides as if he was attempting to convince the Jester. “Your choice is yours. I made my choice. It is up to you.”

“I thought…” it seemed like many thoughts crossed Jamison’s mind. He shook his head. “Ya didn’t like me, eh?”

“This is nothing like that. I haven’t fucked anything in a long time, is all.”

Jamison chuckled, breathlessly. “You and me both, mate.”

The Jester took a deep breath as if he was trying to decide. He looked at Mako, biting his lip and smiling. “Go on, then.”

Mako hummed as he cupped his ass again, bringing him close. The proximity of his skin made Mako’s groin light up, already feeling his skin going hot. He was not going to even bother with any foreplay, he tugged Jamison shorts down until his erect member showed up. The Jester moaned, hands looping around Mako’s thick neck.

“Damn,” Jamison whispered as his ass was spread and massaged, rough fingers just pressing against the soft flesh. Mako didn’t waste any time at all, hand hand hungrily rubbing at his chest. 

Mako was hungry, and he couldn’t wait. He grabbed Jamison and threw him into his own bed. He didn’t even wait for the man to settle before he was flipping him so he laid with his chest on the mattress, back bared at Mako. The urgency of it didn’t even make it attractive for him to take off the rest of Jamison’s clothes, pinning him down on the bed with his hand as he reached for a bottle in the drawer next to his bed.  
He fished out the lube, opening the cap and spreading it on his thick fingers. It was cool and smooth, and he wasted no time before he started massaging Jamison’s hole with it. The man moaned, squirming under Mako’s quick touch. 

He pressed his finger in suddenly, making the man gasp in surprise and slight pain, but pleasure all the same. His hands were grabbing at the sheets as Mako thrusted in and out, without waiting for him to adapt to the intrusion. 

The moaning was getting louder and louder, going full volume when Mako inserted another finger and wriggled it around. He didn’t care- the sounds the Jester made just went directly into his groin. It made him feel young again, like he was invincible.   
He couldn’t wait anymore. He got his fingers out, spreading more lube on his thick digits and spread it on his thickness. Mako palmed at his cock, thumb caressing softly the piercing at the head of his penis. He was big, but Jamison would probably take him.  
Probably.

Mako didn’t think about it. He simply shoved his head in, breaching Jamison a little too roughly.

“Fuck!” Jamison screamed, hands clutching hard at the sheets. He panted and almost sobbed, drool spilling from his mouth. “K-keep-”

Jamison didn’t have to finish for Mako to keep ramming in. He was a little too rough, but God, the hotness and tightness around him felt so good. The way he could feel Jamison stretch for him as he impaled him made his eyes sparkle. The image of the young man under him, panting and crying in pleasure was one he missed so much.

Oh, it has been so long. Mako savored it once he was balls deep, his hands pressing at Jamison hips and feeling how pointy and sharp his hipbones were. He felt them creak underneath his thumb, the heat spreading through the young man’s body. It felt fantastic, the little squirming and moaning getting Mako going.  
He began thrusting, his pace already fast. Jamison began wailing, head back as he spilled begs and words of pleasure. It made Mako increase his speed, not caring if Jamison had adjusted to the pace. The rhythm was crazy, his skin heating up as he felt himself going over the line. 

He was grunting loudly along with Jamison screaming, but it felt good. With one palm still pinned on Jamison’s lower back, he shoved his free fingers on Jamison’s mouth. He lapped at them, sucking and licking with lust and need. Mako thrusted them in and out, almost gagging Jamison. 

The young man could barely move, body twitching as he moaned until he was out of breath. Mako felt the hot skin underneath him, the way it felt, the way it jiggled. He remembered how Jamison had burnt those men to death. It was beautiful.

Mako howled as he came, shoving out as he did so to spread his cum through Jamison’s ass and thighs, pumping himself as he orgasmed and also coating his smaller back. He looked like a mes, semen leaking from Jamison’s gaping hole, already dripping off his thighs. Jamison was panting, turning on his back as Mako started to clean himself off. The Jester was still fully erect, cock standing from between his legs.

“Hey, I ain’t done,” He smiled, expecting Mako to do something about it. The Captain stared at him, and laughed.

“I’m sorry, but don’t you have hands?” 

Jamison snarled, his flesh hand pumping himself off until he came. Mako could tell he wasn’t too happy about it, but god he didn’t care. It was if all his anxiety had spilled out along with his spunk. 

“Asshole,” Jamison said a little too loudly while reaching for a rag to clean himself. 

“I never said I would pleasure you.”

Mako laughed as Jamison was cleaning himself off, exiting his room after putting his pants on once again. He still was high on his pleasure, no goals in mind apart from getting a breath of salty air. 

As soon as he stepped out of his cabin however he saw all his crewmates staring at him silently. They said nothing, but their eyes were bulging, flustered.  
The Jester screams of pleasure echoed on Mako’s mind. They knew.

No one said a thing, however. Mako wondered why. Did they really respect him so much that they wouldn’t mention that he just had the loudest sex in his life? Or were they just terrified he was going to kill them?

“Cap-” 

“Any words about this, and you will wish the Red Tide had caught up with you. Understood?”

Everybody nodded, and went back to what they were doing. Good. Mako didn’t need a bunch of stupid gossipy pirates in his command. He would kill anyone who thought himself funny enough to say anything about it. 

“Captain!” One of them yelled from the mast. Mako looked up, annoyed. He wanted to go to his room and be alone, but Jamison was there, and he didn’t want to deal with his whining over Mko not being too considerate. 

“What.” He yelled back. 

“Land in sight!” 

Mako blinked, as he made his way towards the railing of the boat.  
It was a small speck, but he saw it. It would take them the rest of the night to actually get there, but he saw it clear as day.

They had finally arrived to Tortuga.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friends with benefits except Mako can't decide if he hates him or not.


	7. Hematite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seemed like Mako wasn’t the only one that was itching to reach land.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally reach Tortuga, and Mako does a detour.
> 
> Hello! here is a new chapter!  
> This one has some OCs, and I promise while these OCs are important to the story this fic will still be focused on Mako and Jamie. I promise!! its just, you know, to add flavor. I hope you guys like them!! 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope you guys do too! Thank you for reading!!

It seemed like Mako wasn’t the only one that was itching to reach land. The closer they got to port, the harder his pirates hollered and cheered. Eventually Jamison came out of Mako’s cabin, fully clothed and clean. The Jester quickly ran towards the deck, leaning as far as he could without falling into the ocean. 

“Oi, we’re finally gettin’ tha’ land?!” He screamed. Mako just watched as he cheered as well.

Mako loved the ocean, and he rather stay in the sea as long as he could but he knew that they always had to eventually get back to land. It was a sad fact, for him. Better make his trip to Tortuga worth it, so they wouldn’t go back for a while. 

He sighed, crossing his meaty arms as they reached land. He made a mental list of the things he needed to attend on while they were on land. 

 

As soon as they reached the port everybody practically crawled out of the ship. Mako had to practically yell at them so they would tie the ship properly to the port. It wasn’t until then that Mako descended, and basically dragged Jamison along with him. 

“Ah, I’m bein’ let off tha’ ship? I thought ye were gonna tie me up to the mast, or somethin’!” the Jester laughed. Mako grunted- it was a very tempting idea, but he prefered to just have eyes on him all the time. 

“You all have your assignments, and things to look for.” Mako called to his crew, who were gathered around him in a circle itching to get to town. 

“How long will we be on land, Cap’n?” One of them called out. 

“Until I find something we need, or at least have more information on where to obtain it.”

No one asked further questions. When Captain Rutledge kept information for himself, everybody nodded and obeyed. They knew better than to question their Captain. 

“I will be… away. If you need me, I’ll be on our usual Inn. Luscious, Marco- stay behind and keep an eye on the ship.”

They hollered in agreement. Before they ran off, Mako grabbed one of his men, Jenkins and stopped him in his tracks.

“Hold on. I have an assignment for you.”

“Yes, Cap’n?” 

“Along with your assignments, You will look after our… guest.”

“Uh,” Jenkins looked at Jamison over, unsure. “Okay.”

“I will take over and come back to our usual inn tonight. Do not let him out of your sight, understood?”

“Awh, I’m gettin’ a new babysitter?” Jamison interfered, laughing shrill. Jenkins seemed a little anxious.

“Do not be an idiot, and don’t listen to him.” He pointed to Jamison with his meaty finger. “Whatever ridiculous demand he has, do not listen to them.”

“Where are ye goin’?” Jamison asked as Mako walked away. 

“None of your business,” He replied back without even looking behind him. He walked away, leaving Jenkins to deal with the giggling Jester. Finally, he could have some time without listening to his gross, shrill voice. 

Mako crossed town, everybody looking but knowing better to not stare. They very well knew who he was and to not fuck with him. No one knew where he was going to, however. He made it towards the other side of the town and into shore. It was full of rocks and abandoned, no one but animals hung out around the small beach.

A perfect hide out. 

He went down into the shore, the rocks making it rather difficult to walk. He could hear the crunching of the pebbles under his foot as he continued forwards towards the edge of the rocky beach. The farther he went the stench of rotten algae reached his nose, even through his filters. Even so, he continued until the smell was almost unbearable. He lifted up his mask, rubbing a oily balm under his nose in hopes it would help with the rotten smell. It did.

It took him more minutes to reach the cave he was looking for. The entrance was pitch black, leaves and seaweed hanging from the top of it and making a little curtain. Mako swiped them away as he walked into the entrance.   
He could hear the wind as he stared into the darkness.

Mako walked forward, into the darkness.

The balm he smeared on his upper lip masked the waxy smell that replaced the rotten scent. As he walked forwards, the darkness was replaced by dim orange lights from the candles that were placed on the sides of the caves. Plants grew out of the cave, the humidity sticking into his skin. 

He finally reached the end of the cave. The walls were decorated with candles, animal bones sticking out of them and from the rocks. Things hung from the ceiling that glittered as if they were made of gold. The humidity was gone, replaced by a cold gust. 

“Mako,” called the hunched figure that was at the center of the room, sitting in front of a table with jewels on them. “You’re back.”

“Ophelia, it’s good to see you.”

The Sea witch removed her cowl made of seaweed, showing her face to Mako. Her skin was dark with a green tint to it, her eyes yellow like gold. Like Jamison’s, except hers glew. Her teeth were white as pearls, her hair long and with the consistency of seaweed. 

The most prominent fact about her were the spikes protruding out of her body.   
It was as if sea urchins grew out of her body, piercing her skin from the inside and poking into the shawl she wore. The spikes were red and black, long and dangerous. It was a terrifying sight, so many spikes coming out of the woman. They pierced her chest, stomach, shoulders and back.

“I showed you my face. Show me yours.”

Another one of her strange rules. Mako didn’t question it at this point, grabbing his mask and pulling it off. It felt good for his face to be free of his mask, having worn it for such a long time after Jamison entered his life. The woman smiled, her thin lips pink like coral. 

“Did you bring something for me, Mako?”

He nodded, taking something from his pouch. It was a heavy ring Jamison had thrown up some days ago. It was made of gold with an encrusted diamond. He offered it to Ophelia, who took it in her thin hands. Her fingernails looked to be made of seashell.

“Ah,” She examined it in front of her eyes. “This one seems to have a story behind it, does it not? Tell me, how did you get this one?”

“...Nothing special,” Mako huffed. She didn’t need to know it came from the Royal Jester’s stomach.

“Mmm. This is a very acceptable offer. What is it that you need today, Mako?” She took the gem and put it in her mouth. She crunched it up, the diamond breaking on her teeth. It was terrifying to watch, something about her being just made her being able to crunch up metal and jewels on her mouth and eat them up, like cookies. She swallowed the destroyed ring, staring at Mako with bloodied lips. 

“I am looking for a map.”

“A map?” She licked the blood of her chapped lips with her tongue. “You came all the way over here for a map?” 

“I need a map of the inside of the King’s castle.”

“Ah,” She smiled. Diamond shards were on her teeth. “That is far trickier. Hmm…”

She stood up, revealing her full figure. She was way shorter than Mako, and yet she was still horrifying in a special way. Maybe the sea urchins poking out of her. 

“You have something that belonged to the King, don’t you?”

“The ring belong to Castle.”

“That’s not what I mean.” 

“...We kidnapped the Royal Jester.” Mako said, defeated.

“Ah,” Ophelia hummed. “Is that the reason you have a sudden interest for a map of the inside of the castle?”

“We struck a deal. He has treasure stashed somewhere, but we need a map of the castle itself.”

“Hmm… bursting into the castle, stealing everything that is not bolted to the ground? It is your style, after all. Like a filthy pirate.”

“Will you help me, or not?” He was starting to get exasperated, but even so he knew not to go too far with The Sea Witch. He didn’t need that kind of enemy on his side.

“It is different from what I normally do.” She said, tongue licking her upper lip. “I do enchantments and hexes- this is far more material and specific. I can do it, but it will be difficult. It will have a price.”

“You want more jewelry?”

“No, this will cost you more. Far more.” She leaned over to Mako, the urchin spines dangerously close to Mako’s skin. “It will be very hard for me to procure this map. It will take a lot of… favors, and energy. So I want something of the same equivalence.”

Mako didn’t move, awaiting the blow. He knew he was going to hate whatever the hell she was going to ask for.

“What do you want?”

“I want a lock of hair.”

“From whom?” Mako instantly knew this was going to really, really suck.

“I want a lock of Anne Daniels’ hair.”

No.   
God, no.  
God fucking _hell_ no.

“Yes, that Anne Daniels. Captain of the Red Tide. Give me a lock of her hair, and I will give you a map.”

“You’re insane,” Mako was about to push her away but stopped, knowing he would get stabbed by the urchins. “I am not going to near that madwoman. No map is worth that.”

“Okay.” She retreated, but still stared at Mako naked face. “But there won’t be a map for you.”

“I am not killing my crew and myself for your stupid map. Any way is easier than your ridiculous absurd demands.”

“I’ve killed men for less, Mako Rutledge.” She hissed, shoulders tensed. “Don’t you dare speak to me like that ever again.”

“I’m leaving,” Mako turned around, putting his shark mask on once again.

“I know you’ll come back, Mako. You always do.” He could hear her sitting down. “And I know you’ll bring a special guest with you, as well.”

Mako just ignored her, making his way to the entrance of the cave.   
A lock of Captain Daniels’ hair? That was a suicide mission. Captain Daniels murdered in cold blood anyone that could fall into the label of Pirate.  
He didn’t know much about her, apart from what everyone knew. She used to be a human woman, the Captain of the Red Tide. She worked for the royal navy, until… until _something_ happened to her.

She became part of the sea, her skin turning into pink coral. Her hair glistened like shells, her eyes a glowing pale blue. It was as if she turned into a human coral reef, her skin beautifully growing sea flowers that were deadly. 

She was beautiful.

But it was then when she became someone else. As part of the Royal Navy she already was a bad thing for Pirates, but she became a monster. Destroying their ships and dragging them into sea, somewhere no one knew of. She became a monster, more dangerous than Davey Jones himself.

At least Davey Jones was a pirate.

For whatever reason the Sea Witch Ophelia wanted a lock of her hair Mako was not going to do it. There were rumors that the Sea Witch was the one that had cursed Anne Daniels, but they were just rumors. Very few people even believed Ophelia was real. The demand made Mako decide that she probably had something to do about the situation.

He didn’t care for any of it. He was going to get his damn map, and not have to die for it.

It was already sunset when he got out of the cave. He wasted the entire day on that, but maybe he would come up with a better plan next morning. 

Mako’s trek back to the town was long and it was already dark out before he knew it. Tortuga was as lively in the night as it was when the lights were up, young women and men offering their material goods, and their bodies as well. Pretty clothes and tunics hung from the stalls, far too small for Mako to wear.

A young man offered him his special services, and Mako considered it. Technically it hadn’t even been a day since he had sex, but he was tired from having to deal with the Sea Witch so maybe it wasn’t that bad idea.  
He skipped when he remembered he had a certain Jester he could use for free. 

Mako growled at the idea. Now there was something to look up for. 

He arrived to the usual place where rested while on Tortuga. He could already hear the ruckus from the outside as he slammed the door open and stepped into the inn.  
The bar was full of his pirates, all drinking and celebrating. They had women at their sides, most of them Mako didn’t recognize. Hired company, he supposed. 

Mako went straight for the bar, slamming his fist into the wood. The old woman immediately gave him a huge pint of rum. He had to lift his mask a little to drink it, but no one commented a thing. The alcohol felt good on his belly, warming him up nice. He gulped the drink down in one go, slamming the glass into the wood without breaking it. Another was on his hand instantly.

He drank it in one go as well. His massive size let him drink like that for a while and not get instantly drunk. He requested another glass, and he drank it too quickly. He didn’t care. The encounter with the Sea Witch had been stressful and he was going to unwind, damnit. He could drink as much as he could.

But he remembered the Jester, then. Mako decided to stop at his third glass- he didn’t want to be too drunk for that encounter.

Talking about, where was he? Normally at this point the Jester would be all over him. 

“Jenkins!” He hollered. The pirate was instantly at his side, a bottle of rum on his hand. Mako noticed that there was no Jamison at his side, though.

“Yes, Cap’n?”

“I thought I gave you a job to do,” he pointed at the empty space beside the pirate. “Where is the Jester?”

“Oh, he already reserved a room for you, sir! He went up there to wait for you.”

It seemed like Mako wasn’t the only one that enjoyed their sudden sex.  
His lips curled into a smile. Perhaps the day was going to end in a good way. 

“Good, good. I will go upstairs.”

“G’night, Cap’n!”

Mako wished that no one noticed him going into the second floor of the inn, but everybody was too busy with their own drinks that he could practically sneak away, despite his sheer size.   
He could already feel the alcohol getting into his system. Sure, it wasn’t a lot, but it still was enough to make his vision blur a little. 

He was stupid enough to not ask what door it was, but it wasn’t too hard to guess. He could see light coming out from only one of the doors, and he made a beeline to it. He opened it easily, and sure the Jester was sprawled in the bed.

“Oh, Ye’re early,” Jamison said with curly lips. Or at least Mako thought so.

...Maybe it wasn’t that good of an idea to drink that rum that quickly.

“Come ‘ere,”

Mako said as he started to undress. He shoved his pants down, freeing his flaccid cock. He started stroking it, his eyes fixated on Jamison.

“Oh, it’s one of those nights, eh?” Jamison licked his lips. God he looked so good. Mako knew he looked better than earlier but he couldn’t figure out just why. He was starting to get a bit tipsy, but he was lucid enough to know he wanted Jamison in front of him that moment. 

“Should I-” Before Jamison asked if he could undress, Mako grabbed him and shoved the man into his knees. The Alcohol didn’t make him drunk, but it made Mako bolder. It felt good. 

“Aha, got it, got it-”

The Jester started sucking, and it felt so good. His long tongue caressed all over him, and it felt like heaven. Mako huffed and puffed, body tensing when he felt that appendage suck at him in such a professional manner.

It probably was the stress, or maybe the fact tht he was a bit tipsy. Or maybe it was because he still was getting used to fucking again, but Mako came fast. He orgasmed inside of Jamison’s mouth, forcing the man to drink it all. The sight of the Jester licking his lips off Mako’s seed was such a good one.

“Aight!” He cleaned the drool with the back of his hand. Mako was satisfied, making his way to the bed to go to sleep. He was just so fed up with that day, and just wanted to sleep while he still felt the afterglow.

“Guess I’m left with this by meself, eh?” He saw Jamison point to the erection in his pants. Mako just growled, climbing into bed and drifting off to sleep almost instantly. 

“Fine, fine,” he heard Jamison say as he drifted off. “Will take care of it, no biggie.”

Mako fell asleep after, the sounds of Jamison climax lulling him to sleep.


	8. Jade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako awoke disgruntled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Deal is made.
> 
> Hello! Here is a new chapter!!
> 
> Few notes:
> 
> From now on, I will use a beta reader to correct my chapters, from this and my other multichaptered fics. H O W E V E R, as you could tell I have normally an update schedule for the fics. By using a beta reader, the fics will be out of schedule, aka there won't be really a specific time the chapters will be up. I'll have to sacrifice posting them timely, but its for the sake of quality, so I hope you guys can understand!! I want to make this as enjoyable, and my english is b a d, so this is the ideal.
> 
> However! I will still try to update one chapter per week on this and my other fic. I hope you guys understand!!
> 
> Thank you for reading, and Hope you guys like it!

Mako awoke disgruntled, his head slightly dizzy from what he drank the last night. Not a hangover, just discomfort. 

He grumbled, raising a hand to rub his face, and hit his mask instead—oh, yeah. He’d forgotten he had it on. 

It was early, but he could already hear some sort of ruckus at the bar. The waitress yelling, and pirates yelling back. The normal around here, really.  
Mako got up from the bed, stretching and popping the bones in his shoulders. He sat on the edge of the bed, mattress sinking under his massive weight. The bed frame creaked but managed to hold his girth, despite its shitty appearance.  
The events of the previous day swam through his head. He could have the map, but the task the Sea Witch had given him was impossible to do. It was a suicide mission—he just couldn’t. He wasn’t going to send his men, and himself, to a painful death. 

There must be another way, surely. It was just a _map_ , how hard could it be to get one? They were in the biggest pirate port, he could probably find someone that sold maps, someone that maybe worked at the castle at one point. He wouldn’t need Ophelia’s help.  
He was still thinking as he heard a door creaking open behind him, a shrill laugh accompanying it.

“Ye awake! Good mornin’, Captain!” the Jester greeted, shutting the door of the bathroom. Mako didn’t even turn, hearing Jamison’s footsteps on the wooden floor. “Ya were out like a baby.”

Mako was about to say something, give a witty remark or something like that, but when he turned to see Jamison, he saw him different.

The last time he saw the Jester, his makeup was basically smudged out, and his hair was out of dye. Now however, he had just as much makeup as the first time he saw him, perfectly applied to his face along with his hair dye, making his hair blond. Mako tried to figure out if he looked like that the previous night, but he was so preoccupied with getting sucked he hadn’t paid attention. 

“Ya like?” Jamison said, noticing how Mako just stared at him. He posed a little, showing his face proudly. “When yer men got me from tha’ castle I had no time tha’ pick up me things, but I was lucky enough to find some of the same things ‘ere!”

“What did you pay it with?” Mako immediately said, not amused. He feared the little shit had used some of the gems in his belly to pay for the paint. 

“No need tha’ worry- yer mate Jenkin’s gave me some, heh, allowance money!”

“What.” 

“Well,” he smiled impishly, his hands scooping his chin in an attempt to look innocent. “When I told ‘im that me lookin’, well, _prettier_ would make ya happier and more relaxed, he agreed!”

Mako rumbled and put his forehead on his hands in defeat. His men wanted him to fuck Jamison so he would be more relaxed.  
Was he really that uptight? Well, it’s not like he cared about what his crewmates thought about him. He instilled fear, and that was what was important of him.  
Whatever. As long as his gems weren’t used to pay for that crap, Mako didn’t care. 

“So? Did ya get the map to tha’ Castle?”

“My first plan didn’t work…” Mako said lowly, still thinking. “We will have to go for plan B.”

“Ah, what _is_ plan B?” Jamison said, inspecting himself in the mirror and adjusting his painted hair.

“Come on,” Mako said, getting out of the room. Jamison followed behind.

As he expected, all his crewmates were already at the restaurant, some already drinking and others trying to nurse their hangovers. They immediately noticed when Mako approached the room, immediately quieting their ruckus down.

“I have a mission for you!” he called, voice echoing through the walls of the inn. They all had their eyes focused on him, as it should be. 

“We will look for the map! All of you, I want you to look for every corner of this town and search for it! If it is here, we will find it! And once you find someone that might have information, _immediately_ tell me!”

They all roared in agreement. With such a big crew, it shouldn’t be difficult to search through the entire island. It may take a few days, but Mako was sure they would succeed.  
After all, it is said that you can find anything in Tortuga.

 

\---

 

Mako was going to _kill_ whoever said that you could find anything in Tortuga.

His crew had already spent about four days trying to find anything that could help them infiltrate the castle, but it was a wild goose chase. After having interrogated every single merchant, they had come up with nothing.   
How hard could it be to get a map? _Very,_ apparently. No matter how many heads he knocked or how many threats he dished out, no one seemed to have what Mako was looking for. They were sometimes pointed out to other people, but in the end it had been just a waste of time.

“This is ridiculous,” Mako said as he stood on the pier, glaring at a map of Tortuga. It was scribbled on, names and places crossed off to detail what was a dead end. At this point ninety percent of the map was crossed out. “I thought there would be at least _someone_ here that worked in the castle.”

“Well.” Jamison was sitting cross legged next to Mako. The Captain hadn’t had any issue with the Jester running off, but he was content just being next to Mako. “People really never _stop_ workin’ at tha’ castle, under tha’ King’s command.” 

Mako turned to look down at him. Jamison noticed it, continuing his explanation.

“I mean—normally people literally live an’ die there. Their mothers and fathers worked there, and then they would, then they would have kids who would live on tha’ castle, work like their parents, and then die. Ya don’t really stop workin’ there, ever.”

Mako burrowed his brow, thinking. 

“No one ever gets fired?”

Jamison stood up in one swift motion, biting his lip. “Well, roight- that does happen, but… it’s not really, firin’, ya know?”

He lifted his finger and pressed it against his own throat, dragging it across it in a horizontal line. He did all of this with a smile on his face, but it didn’t seem joyful. Mako stared at him for a moment, and Jamison just put his hands on his hips. 

“But that is just how things go!”

Mako lifted his thick finger, pointing it at Jamison. “You were planning on getting out, weren’t you?”

“Eh,” the Jester kicked the dirt. “I ain’t stupid—I wasn’t gonna let me life rot in that place. I was gatherin’ treasure up, to later have somethin’ to survive with. But then yer men appeared!”

He said this not with anger, but with excitement. It seemed like Mako actually was a happy coincidence for Jamison, apart from the ‘I-Will-Probably-Kill-You’ part. 

“Anyone else going to leave with you?”

“No, every man is on their own,” Jamison sneered. “I’m tha’ Jester, it ain’t like they respect me at all.”

What a tricky bastard. He was stealing jewels for himself so he could escape a better life, one outside of those walls. 

“Hmm… So we cannot expect to find anyone that has worked inside the castle.”

“Sorry mate—I also thought that maybe we would find somethin’.”

Mako scratched his belly, deep in thought. Well, the past four days had been a colossal waste of time, and they weren’t closer to their goal.   
He would have to take on Ophelia’s offer.

Mako groaned loudly, startling Jamison. “Go back to the inn, and wait for me there. Get into our room… I’ll arrive late.”

“Oh, ye’re goin’ somewhere?” He winked. “Ya runnin’ off again? Getting on with another pretty boy?”

Mako shoved him away. Jamison laughed, but he quickly left in directions to the inn. The Captain sighed, alone, as he started his trek towards Ophelia’s cave.

 

\---

 

“I knew you would be back.”

Mako stood in front of the woman once again, without his mask. The woman stared up at him, not even bothering getting up from her seat. 

“You lack my lock of hair, however.”

“I came here to make a deal.” Mako replied back.

“Oh? Pirate Captain’s are not known for making deals,” she scratched the surface of wooden table with her long fingernails. “You just take for yourself, don’t you?”

“I am willing to talk.”

“I thought you were fearless. Why are you so afraid of my proposal? I thought you were the kind of person to take on challenges, Mako.”

“This is not a challenge. It is suicide, and I am not going to kill myself and my men for it.” He took a step closer to the woman, completely looming over her. She didn’t seem to care, however. “There must be something else you desire, Ophelia. Something that is actually doable.”

She stared at him for a long time, her yellow eyes digging deep into his. They remained quiet for several seconds, until she blinked, and nodded.

“...All right. This is the only time I will concede you this favor, and only because you have been a good client of mine.” She stabbed the wooden table, making splinters jab out of it. “This will be the first and last time this happens, are we _clear?”_

“Crystal,” he replied softly. He wanted to smile at being able to convince the witch, but he knew that any demonstration of joy would probably make her rescind her offer. 

The witch got up, going deep into her cave as she started looking for something on the bookshelves. “I am actually in need of a particular item. I’ve wanted to obtain it for a while, but never actually had the means to fetch it. It is your lucky day, it seems.”

She finally picked up one of the books lying on her bookshelf, opening it and taking what seemed to be a map from it. She gave it to Mako, who inspected it carefully.  
It was a map of a small island, with coordinates and words from another language scribbled on them. He turned the map around, and saw a drawing of a mirror along with more foreign words.

 _“El Espejo del deseo,”_ she said, pointing to the map. “It shows your deepest desire if you look at it.”

Mako was about to ask why exactly she wanted that thing, but he decided he’d rather not. He knew he was only going to get a smart ass comment, so he nodded. 

“Bring it to me, and I’ll give you the map. Hopefully that’s not too hard to understand?”

“I will bring it, if you give me what I am looking for. A map of the King’s castle.”

“It is a deal.” She extended her skeletal hand, waiting for Mako.

He extended his hand, and they shook. Her grip was tight, wet and powerful. Mako could feel her skin wriggling, as if several worms twitched under it. After several seconds, she let go, returning to her original seat and staring up at Mako.

“See you later, Mako Rutledge.”

“Goodbye, Ophelia.”

He went back from where he came from, a successful grin plastered on his face. He’d finally gotten out of the damn cave. He regretted having wasted so much time in Tortuga, but at least now he had an actual plan on what to do.

 

Once more he arrived to the Inn, and saw all his men there whispering to themselves. They didn’t know where Mako was or what he was planning, but it’s not like they had the guts to ask.   
They all went quiet when Mako arrived, staring at him as he made his way to the middle of the room.   
Once he was in full view of everyone, he spoke.

“I have found someone that can provide us with what we seek.” They seemed to be about to cheer, but Mako didn’t give them the chance. _“However,_ we must trade something to get the map.”

“What do we gotta give, Captain?” one of his men shouted from the back.

It was then when Mako lifted the map to the mirror, and the men stared at it in wonder. 

“We will seek for this mirror, and we will deliver it safely. Are you ready?”

They all screamed. But Mako kept egging them on, until they yelled and hollered so hard and started to slam their fists on the wood. It was chaos, with them dancing and asking for rum and alcohol.

“We leave tomorrow morning!” he shouted, the pirates screaming in agreement. It was exciting, and it made his blood pump in anticipation. 

He looked up, and saw Jamison looking down from the wooden railing, his slender frame pressed against it. He grinned in excitement as well, waving at Mako with his mechanical hand. It seemed that getting that treasure was more of a reality than before.

Thankful for the fact that his mask blocked it, Mako smiled.


	9. Citrine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouldn’t be hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They sail towards an adventure.
> 
> Hello! New chapter up!! This one is a bit short, but i wanted to cover some things just before we got into the ADVENTURE. It's short and sweet, I hope you guys like that.
> 
> ANNOUNCEMENT:  
> I participated in a Roadrat Fanzine! Home on the Road. I wrote a short piece for it, alongside other 21 artists and writers. WE RAN OUT OF PHYSICAL PREORDERS (in 24 hours!!) BUT, keep an eye up- the PDFs for the digital version will come out soon!!
> 
> INFO: roadratfanzine.tumblr.com  
> Thank you!! Shot out to my bro Nami who is my beta reader. Love u dude !!!

Get to the island. Get to the cave. Get the mirror. Get off of the island. Go back to Tortuga.  
Shouldn’t be hard.

As everybody got ready to leave, getting provisions and buying their last necessities, Mako stood in his quarters, examining the huge map on his table. He stared at it, and the drawing of the mirror next to it, trying to figure out the best way to begin. 

“Mmhm…” He hummed, tapping his thick index finger against the map. The page Ophelia had given him and his maps were enough to figure out where the actual island containing the Mirror was. The description said that the Mirror was hidden inside of a cave, and it didn’t mention anything about being surrounded by traps or anything of the sort.

Interesting. She’d said that it was a very dangerous weapon—people would grow obsessed with what they saw and would die in that island, ignoring their starvation to be with the mirror. Strangely enough, nobody had taken it from the island. Weird.  
It didn’t matter; Mako didn’t want it for himself. He would wrap it in a towel and take it to Ophelia. If the woman wanted to obsess all day in front of a mirror that was her issue, not Mako’s. He only cared about the quickest way to get to the island.  
He looked at the routes, deep in thought. After thinking it through for a while, he finally figured the best route to reach to the island without wasting too much time. He traced it with a piece of charcoal, content with his work. 

Once done, Mako got out of his room to see how much progress had been made by his pirates. He hoped they would set sail later that day, and from what it seemed they were almost ready.  
There was someone missing, however.

“Have any of you seen—?” Before Mako could finish his sentence, a metallic ball fell at his feet, jingling and rolling on the ground. Mako crouched to pick it up, and noticed it was one of the Jester’s balls. 

“Hey, ya got it!”

Mako looked up, spotting the jester sitting on the shrouds. He had other two metallic balls in his hands, shining under the sunlight. Mako shook the little ball he held, and it jingled.

“Bells inside—makes ‘em real noisy and entertainin’!” 

Mako threw the ball up towards Jamison, who snatched it with a giggle. 

“Thanks, mate! So, when we leavin’?” 

“We are leaving before the sun sets. We will go and retrieve our mirror!” He bellowed the last part for everybody to hear, and everyone in the hallway hollered their agreement. Jamison laughed, climbing down from the ropes and jumping from his spot in the air.

He landed gracefully just next to Mako, even with the juggling balls in his arms. He seemed to be as excited as everybody else in the ship.

“Hey, Johan,” Mako called one of the pirates that was running closest to him, carrying a bag of fruit. “Has the prisoner hold been repaired yet?”

Jamison’s smile vanished as the pirate nodded. “Yes, sir. It is ready to be used.”

“Good. Please take our prisoner there, and give me the key. This man must not forget what he truly is.”

Jamison laughed nervously, hugging the balls near to him. “Hey mate, ya not gonna throw a good jester to tha’ jail ta’ rot again, roight?”

“You are a prisoner of this ship.” Mako pointed at Jamison. “Do not forget that.”

Jamison leered at him, but said nothing, following Johan towards the jail. With the jester tucked away, Mako could focus on getting to the island quicker without having his weird… _charms_ distract him.  
After that, it didn’t take long for them to get ready to sail. Mako laughed deeply, yelling at his men to set sail.

“To the sea!” he yelled, as everyone ran around. The anchor was lifted, and they started moving towards the ocean. Mako closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as the sound of the ocean reached his ears. It was like finally getting home. The ocean, his true love.

“Ah, it’s good to be back.”

He knew that he had to go back to land once in a while, but the ocean was his _home_. He was born in a ship, and he would die in a ship. It was his life—no matter what, he would always go back to his place of birth. 

“Let’s go! It should take us about three days to get there! Come on!”

The Sea Hog moved through the waves, parting it on her wake like a goddess. Mako felt like his soul soar along with her.

 

\---

 

Ever since they’d sailed away from Tortuga, everything had gone great. The skies were clear, the ocean was in a beautiful mood, and nothing had gone wrong yet. Hours had passed since they started, and if the ocean kept like this, they would probably even get to their destination faster than anticipated.  
Even better, he didn’t have Jamison’s scrawny body following him around whenever he went. It was good, not having an annoying, talkative shadow. 

The rest of the day went as good. The crew behaved, the ocean had been safe, and it was already sunset. Mako saw how the sun hid in the ocean, leading way to the night. The Sea Hog was soon illuminated by only moonlight.  
Mako took a deep breath as he stared at the horizon, the stars littering the skies. Humming, he went back to his room to call it a night. 

In silence he made a beeline towards a world globe, opening it delicately. The inside had a bottle of wine and a wine glass—he had stolen that several years ago from some snotty merchant. He just liked the novelty of it.  
He poured himself a nice glass of the red wine, taking his mask off and perching it next to his desk. For the first time in days he could enjoy his own room without having to cover his face, and his skin thanked him. He sighed, sipping some of the wine and leaning back on the chair. The sound of the sea was relaxing to him, good for his mind.

Mako finished his wine, trying to decide if he wanted another glass. He decided he didn’t, putting it away inside of his globe. Instead he wanted to take advantage of the calming silence, so he decided to go to sleep.  
He tucked himself in his bed, being peacefully rocked by the sea waves. His eyelids were heavy, and he sighed as he fell asleep, silence still in his ears.

 

He didn’t dream. Mako supposed he didn’t mind—he’d rather not dream than have a bad one. Instead, he woke up in the middle of the night.  
Mako was unsure of what had woken him up, since there didn’t seem to be any issue. He took a deep breath, shifting under his covers as he tried to pay attention.

He heard something thunk on the floor and jingle softly. Mako paid far more attention and it happened again. Whatever it was, it was metallic.  
Curious, Mako got up from his bed, placing his mask on and leaving his room.

The deck of his ship seemed calm—the watchers were doing their duties, waving to their captain as Mako walked through the deck. He kept hearing the soft sounds, coming from the holding cell.

The jester.

He must have been juggling with his metallic spheres, and that was the soft sound Mako heard. He was about to turn around and leave for his quarters once again, until he heard another soft sound—but it was different now.  
Mako turned around to pay more attention. The sounds were wet and low, soft and with a tinge of desperation.  
Very slowly he made his way inside, going down the stairs towards the jails. He heard soft whimpers, and Mako knew what was happening instantly. 

And yet, he ventured forward. 

The more he walked the louder the sounds got. They were wet and hungry, desperate even, and deeply arousing. Without even thinking Mako dipped his hand in front of his pants, already palming himself. The sounds went directly to his groin, his breath sharpening along with Jamison’s. 

He peeked through a corner, and he saw it.

Jamison was on the floor of his cell, illuminated by the fire from the oil lamps perched outside of his cell. His skin was sweaty and shiny, his pants down to his knees. Jamison was bent on the floor, his shoulder blades pressed against it, his spine looping so his head was between his legs, at his crotch. 

Mako blinked a few times, trying to understand what was happening.

Jamison was sucking himself off.

Mako tried his hardest to not say a thing, his hand tightening on his groin as he watched Jamison bobbing his head up and down, sucking himself off. His hands were gripping at his hips, propping himself up and keeping balance, his eyes closed as he buried his own nose in his pubes. He made slurping noises, whimpering as his knees twitched in pleasure.  
Mako himself kept rubbing, pulling his dick all the way out as he observed Jamison just lick himself. It was a sight out of an erotic play, something that he’d always desired to see but didn’t actually _expect_ to.

His spine bent in a delicious way, his prominent hipbones and ribs poking out of his skin, stomach hitching as he continued to give himself oral. Mako couldn’t unglue his eyes from the sight, his hands tight and gripping. Jamison hadn’t noticed him--he had no idea Mako was watching him.  
That made something inside of him travel from his belly to his crotch. Being unseen, seeing Jamison truly in his natural state.

The jester popped his mouth off his dick, taking a deep breath before going at it once again. He licked his own tip, precum slipping from his tip and rolling down his painted lips. Drool smudged his purple lipstick, the pastel colors likewise smeared on the skin of his dick. 

He made a slurping sound, his shoulders tensing and skin tightening as he continued to pleasure himself. It was such a thing to see, something just for Mako, no one else. Only he had seen Jamison like this, bent over himself and eating his own penis like a hungry dog. Mako imagined those lips in his own dick, and he stroked harder. He remembered how Jamison had sucked him off, but he was drunk and it was quick and dirty. It was nothing like this, the movement and roll of his own tongue. His cheeks hollowing while sucking.

Mako gasped wordlessly, his body tensing as he kept pumping, fists tightening. He kept his eyes focused on Jamison, sleek Jamison, attractive Jamison, bendy Jamison, sucking himself off and on the verge of orgasm.  
Jamison whimpered loudly, hands shoving his hips further into his own dick, until he separated with a wet pop. A rope of drool linked his mouth and dick together, as he came all over his face. His own cum decorated it, mixing with his white make up. The jester panted, dropping his hips slowly at the floor as the cum rolled down his reddened cheeks.

The sight made Mako’s heart flutter, something more than the lust he was used to. He moaned wordlessly, as he came. He pumped his own cock, milking himself as his seed spread through the floor. He breathed lowly, placing his spent dick back in his pants, and took one last glimpse at Jamison.

The young man was on the floor of his cell, his flesh hand on his chest, already drifting to sleep.  
Mako felt something disgusting in his chest, something he didn’t know how to explain.

He could have stayed and cleaned his face, help him up and tell him how impressed he was at that feat. To clean off the cum off his face with his tongue, perhaps.

...Instead, he turned around, and left to his room.

He slipped inside his bed, and tried to ignore what he saw. It wasn’t important. Nothing more than lust. Jamison was just someone they got for him to jerk off to, and that’s what he was doing.  
There was nothing more to it.

 

\---

 

Mako woke up earlier than usual this time around. The sun still hadn’t come up as he laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. If this day was just as good as the previous one, then Mako would be content.  
He stood up from his bed, stretching his muscles. Even if it was early, Mako was tired of lying in bed, so he decided to get out of his room.

His men were making their early rounds, making sure the ship was still in good condition. He cracked his knuckles, ready to continue their trip. 

“Oi Cap’n! Good mornin’!” 

Mako grunted, sighing as he leaned on the edge of the ship, staring at the horizon. The sun was still working its way up, but it was peaceful.  
Even with the peacefulness of dawn, Mako felt something weighing in his mind.

Pirates aren’t known for their humility. Just like Ophelia had said, pirates take and take without asking. It’s what they do.  
But they weren’t monsters. At least Mako wasn’t. He took from people that _deserved_ it. People that had no right to those riches.  
He was a killer, yes. But he was a human being. He had emotions.

Guilt.

Just like the guilt that crept up in his gut when he thought about how Jamison was locked in the cell.

Mako shuffled, crossing his arms as he stared into space. He thought about it. Jamison was the one who gave him all those gems, and the one that was going to give him a route to get even _more_ gems. 

And now that he thought about it, the jester had had many possibilities to escape. He could have gone with Arthur, but instead he’d killed him, helping Mako and his crew.  
He could have disappeared in Tortuga. Mako would have found him, but he could have _tried_. Despite everything Mako had done—almost thrown him to the sharks, almost killed him several times—Jamison enjoyed his freedom.

Fucking idiot. 

He shuffled again, still staring at the edge of the sea.  
Maybe it was just logic. If he kept Jamison away too long, and he treated him badly enough, maybe in the end Jamison would gut them like dogs. He had the power. Lead Mako and his pirates towards a trap that would kill them all. Get rich by himself.

So, Jamison _kind_ of had their destinies in his hands. Considering the fact that the crafty fuck was stealing gems from the king himself by eating them, it wasn’t too farfetched to think that he could make a plan like that.  
Which meant Mako probably had to get onto his good side. 

Yeah, okay. He could do that.

The sun had just about finished rising as he made his decision, turning away from the rail to go towards the holding cells. On the way, he noticed the little mess he’d made the previous night. He rubbed it away with his foot, moving onwards towards the cell.  
His prisoner was asleep, curled up in one corner of the cell. Even if Jamison was lanky and tall, he still managed to curl himself without occupying much space. How did he do that? His spine just bent in weird ways. 

Mako stared down at him for several seconds, his hand on the iron cell bars. Then, he yanked the door away, forcing it open.  
Jamison jolted awake, crawling to the corner in horror, not realizing what was going on. Mako stood in front of him, huge. The corners of Jamison’s lips twitched.

“H-hey, did… did I do somethin’?”

Mako looked behind him and then back to Jamison.

“Come on, jester. This jail is too shitty for you.”

“Oh?” His eyes widened in surprise. “I ain’t ya prisoner no more, eh?”

“Mmm… you have slightly more rights than one.”

Jamison giggled as he got up from the floor, ready to get out of the jail. However, Mako pointed a thick finger at him, jabbing it into his bony chest.

“If you do something funny, I’ll feed you to the sharks.”

“No need ta’ worry mate, I ain’t that dumb.”

That was what Mako was afraid of.

He sighed, walking out of the jail with Jamison following closely behind.

“I ain’t as dangerous as ya think, mate,” Jamison piped up. Mako stopped, blocking the way out. He breathed heavily.

“And I am far more dangerous than you believe.”

He let Jamison swallow those words, then continued forward. He heard Jamison’s steps follow behind, up until they exited towards the deck.  
His pirate crew saw them, but said nothing. At this point they knew that it was better to just not say anything at all. 

“Ah, what a beautiful morning.” Jamison peeked through the edge of the deck. “Can’t wait ta’ reach tha’ island.”

Mako sighed as he stared at the sea. His decisions were made out of pure interest for the ship. That was all.

If he could fuck that sweet mouth of Jamison’s in the meantime, then that was just a plus.


	10. Ametrine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sky was clear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They continue their mission.
> 
> Hello! Okay, I took a small break from writing, and it pumped me out so much that I managed to write this one out after i took my break, and now my beta gave it to me so woohoo!!
> 
> I am so pumped. Its like 1:30 am so i don't have much to say apart that I hope you guys like it! thank you for reading!! 
> 
> Reminder that now that I have a beta reader, chapters will take a bit longer to be posted! rather have quality than quantity! thank you!
> 
> ANNOUNCEMENT:  
> I participated in a Roadrat Fanzine! Home on the Road. I wrote a short piece for it, alongside other 21 artists and writers. You can preorder now!
> 
> INFO: roadratfanzine.tumblr.com  
> 

The sky was clear.

Not only that, but the ocean was calm, they hadn’t found any other pirates in their way, and nothing had gone wrong so far. It was just straight up good luck. Mako knew to appreciate days like those, considering his line of work. 

“Hey, how long till we get to tha’ island?” Jamison asked beside him, playing with one of his juggling balls. It clinked on the inside, the bells making a soft metallic noise.

“Mmm,” Mako rumbled, standing behind the boat’s wheel. His thick hand gripped it strongly, keeping course. “Soon.”

The island they were trying to find was a small one, barely visible in maps. The island had no name; nothing but a dot on the sea. It shouldn’t be too far away—they should be arriving at any time now. 

“What do ye want the mirror for, anyways?” Jamison asked, sitting on the floor of the ship and cracking his fingers. “Thought we wanted a map ta’ get to the castle?”

Mako didn’t say a thing, just staring ahead.

“Ah! I know! It shows ye yer greatest desire, eh? Bet it will show ya a map of tha’ castle, or a way ta’ get in, eh?”

Mako said nothing. Sure, why not? That sounded like an actually reasonable explanation. He wasn’t about to correct him, anyways. 

He was pretty sure he was only going to see gold and jewels in the mirror, anyways.

“Captain!” the man at the crow’s nest hollered. “I see land!” 

“Take the wheel,” he instructed to one of the pirates walking around, before he made his way towards the edge of the ship. Jamison scurried behind, along with the other pirates on the boat. 

“Ah! Ain’t that land!”

The island seemed to be small. Mako could see its rocky mountains even from their current position, with very few trees visible. It looked creepy, like straight out of one of those ghost stories old women would tell their children to stay far away from the sea. 

A smile crept up his face.

 

\---

 

Mako divided his men: a group would accompany him to retrieve the mirror, and the other would stay in the ship. Jamison would stay in the ship, guarded by his men.

“What, I ain’t comin’?” Jamison smiled from the deck. Mako and his men were already on land, pretending to not listen to Jamison.

“Protect the ship,” he told the other men left guarding the Sea Hog. “...And be careful of him.” He pointed to the jester, who just laughed loudly. 

“Aye, Captain! Good luck!”

“I don’t need no luck.” Mako muttered under his breath as they made their way towards the belly of the island.

It looked... like a regular island. The jungle was quiet apart from the occasional bug, and there didn’t seem to be any other signs of life. 

“Where we goin’, Captain?” one of his men said, staying close to Mako. Mako pulled out the paper Ophelia had given him, examining the map behind it. It showed a certain location in the map, a cave dead center of the island, in the middle of what seemed like a lake, according to the drawing. 

“It’s a cave. We must keep going.”

So they did. Mako kept alert, eyes focused in his surroundings carefully. His men were as alert, their hands placed on the hilts of their swords.

Mako didn’t know what he was expecting, but he knew something was coming. Their trip to the island itself had been so good, without any kind of trouble, that Mako knew that luck would run out. He would be prepared. He wasn’t going to let himself be surprised.

But there was nothing.

It unnerved Mako in some visceral way—he expected _something_. People, animals, monsters, _anything_... And yet nothing happened.

Maybe his luck was running for just a while longer. 

It took them some time, but Mako and his crew eventually reached a small lake. It had a cave in the middle, water seeping into its maw. Carefully, Mako kicked a rock on the water. The surface rippled softly, and he waited.  
No monsters came out to attack the rock, and the water didn’t dissolve the rock. He crouched down, dipping one finger into it. Seemed okay, just normal water.

Mako had been in enough places to be wary, after all. He knew treasures like these were normally guarded by people, animals, or other random things. But even so, it seemed this abandoned island really had no one to protect it, forgotten through time. Better for him—he wouldn’t have to worry too much, it seemed. Still, he kept his guard. 

“Let’s go,” Mako instructed, being the first one to get into the pond. It was shallow enough that it reached his stomach, and he waded his way through it. His pirates followed suit, awed at just how crystalline the water was.

No fish, either. It was like nothing lived on that island apart from annoying bugs. Interesting. 

The cave seemed deep, but the light from the outside made the water shimmer, giving light. Soon enough they reached a shore inside the cave. The sand was almost white, crunching softly under Mako’s feet. 

They were close. Mako could taste it. 

It took them far less time than Mako had expected. Soon enough they reached a clearing inside the cave. The walls were covered in crystalline rocks, making all surfaces shine. At the dead center a rock sprouted from the floor like a pedestal, and perched on top of it was a small mirror.

The back of the mirror was facing them, reflecting the wall in front of it. The back was decorated with old jewels and engravings long faded. It looked like it was centuries old.

“Here it is.”

Mako approached slowly, and his men were already on the verge of running towards it. Mako lifted one meaty arm, stopping them from doing anything stupid. 

“Wait, you imbeciles. Look.”

He pointed down at the floor, his crew gasping at the sight of the skulls and dead bodies around the mirror.

“A trap?!” one of them gasped, stepping back from the old skulls.

“Idiots, is what they are.” Mako rolled his shoulders, and unwrapped the bandanna his shark mask was wearing. “Weak minded fools. They got too obsessed with what they saw, so they died here. Literally didn’t do a thing but just stare at the stupid thing.”

He very carefully wrapped the mirror in the bandanna, making a knot so it wouldn’t slip. That way, he wouldn’t see whatever it reflected. 

“It won’t work on me, but I’m afraid you idiots might get a little too obsessed.”

His crew said nothing, a silent agreement. They seemed eager to see whatever the mirror had reflected for them, but it was too dangerous. 

He had to admit—he wanted to know just what his reflection showed. He wondered what it would truly, truly show. His deepest desire, what he truly wanted deep inside. 

But he was not an idiot. He knew very well mortals could fall easily into the mirror charms. He wasn’t about to lose his mind because of whatever the thing showed him. He was better than that.

Mako wondered what Ophelia would see in the reflection. Maybe something gross like a fish or a dead person—who knew? Whatever it was, Mako didn’t care. It was just another treasure he would deliver, get his map, and get his _real_ treasure.

Getting the mirror didn’t seem to trigger any kind of trap, so everything was still good. 

“Good. Now, let’s get back to the ship.” 

They groaned in agreement as they slowly made their way out of the cave. Mako put the mirror away in his pouch, sighing as the mission seemed to be over.  
It was strange, just how easy everything had been. But Mako wasn’t going to complain about things being easy; as far as he knew this luck would remain until he retrieved the treasure from the castle.

His men were happily humming songs, laughing while they traveled. It made him feel at ease, forgetting about his anxieties. 

“We’re back!” The men screamed at the ship. His crewmates greeted them from the deck, the jester leaning far and waving at Mako as well.

“Ya ain’t got in any trouble, eh?!” he yelled, happily. Mako huffed, making his way towards the ship.

“Come on! We need to get ready to sail back to Tortuga. We will get our map there.”

They yelled in unison, getting in the ship and getting it ready.

“What, ain’t we gonna camp ‘ere at least for tonight?” Jamison asked as soon as Mako got on board. Mako shook his head. “We should sail as soon as possible. This place… it gives me the creeps.”

Jamison turned around, and shrugged. “Eh, ye’re the captain.” Then the jester started to claw at Mako’s pouch. “Ya got tha’ mirror, eh? Did ya see somethin’? What ya see? Can I—”

“Off!” Mako pushed him off him, making Jamison giggle. “No one will see this mirror. It is forbidden.”

“Roight, roight, got it. No touchy!”

Mako rolled his eyes.

They got ready soon enough, but when they set sail, the boat barely moved.

“What’s the problem?” Mako asked his navigator, who shook his head in defeat. 

“Wind is weak—we’re advancing, but slowly.”

“Mm…” That was weird. The winds have been consistent so far; for them to change so suddenly was unusual.

“Hey, look. A storm is a-comin’.” The jester pointed to the sky. The clouds were already starting to darken at an unnatural speed. 

Something was wrong. 

“We need to get moving,” Mako called. “We need to move, _right now_!” Mako screamed at the men, who scrambled to try to get the ship to sail faster. It did, but still wasn’t fast enough. Mako paced around, looking at how the sky just kept darkening more and more, a horrifying feeling in his gut.

“Hey m-mate? What’s wrong?” Jamison asked, biting his lip as he bounced on the balls of his feet. 

“We need to leave. This place is calm—too calm. There was nothing in the island, there was—”

The ocean shook, and a strong wave hit the ship. It shook it violently, knocking all of them onto the floor. 

They all scrambled up, getting to their battle stations. Jamison was gripping into the wooden railing hard, panting in horror.

“What- What tha’ hell?!”

Another wave shook the boat, but this one was weaker than the first one. At this point the sky was completely black. Mako practically shoved the navigator away from the wheel, as he proceeded to get them out of there.

“I don’t get it- what is goin’ on?!”

“This is why the island was so quiet!” Mako screamed, as the ocean started to ripple. Jamison clung onto the railing for dear life, and the pirates not in their stations clung around him, staring at the bubbling spot on the sea. 

It was so clear. Everything was so clear now—of course nothing lived in that island. There were no people, no one would be _insane_ enough to approach it. It was sure death, but Mako had been so foolish. He didn’t take time to actually research where they were going, to where Ophelia was guiding them to. He had been so stupid. 

_“It’s her haunting grounds!”_

As he screamed this, a ship rose from the sea. It was as if the sea itself parted to make way to it, the ship completely dry as if it had never been submerged. The pirates screamed in horror as they set up their weapons, trying to get the ship to sail as fast as possible.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Jamison screamed, wrapped tightly into himself. Mako took one look towards the Red Tide, quickly approaching. Mako could feel fat beads of sweat roll down his back, his muscles tightening in anxiety. Their luck had run out.

He could see Captain Anne Daniels at the helm.


	11. Smoky Quartz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wind wasn’t strong, but they needed to use every single bit of it on their favor and maybe, just _maybe_ they could escape.
> 
> Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Chase begins.
> 
> Hello!!! Update kinda late, but what are you gonna do. sometimes stuff happens! Oh well. Hopefully this chapter is good enough that you don't mind!! thank you for reading and I hope you like it!
> 
> REMINDER, now i have a beta reader, so chapters might come up a little bit more slowly!
> 
> ANNOUNCEMENT:  
> I participated in a Roadrat Fanzine! Home on the Road. I wrote a short piece for it, alongside other 21 artists and writers. You missed your chance for a preorder? well, there are still some left! 
> 
> INFO: roadratfanzine.tumblr.com  
> 

Mako grit his teeth. The worst thing that could have happened was happening—the Red Tide was following them, and Mako knew exactly what their intention was. 

“We need to get moving! Faster! We need to outrun them!” he hollered at his men, who immediately set to work. The wind wasn’t strong, but they needed to use every single bit of it on their favor and maybe, just _maybe_ they could escape.

Maybe.

Mako took a deep breath. Thinking about how absolutely fucking _screwed_ they were wasn’t going to help at all. They needed to act now. 

“There ain’t enough wind, captain!” one of the men yelled. 

Mako planted himself behind the ship’s wheel once again, making a sharp turn. The ship jerked violently, his crew having to hold on to not fall onto their asses. Jamison fell, and Mako wanted to tell him to go hide in his cabin, but he was far too busy trying to get the ship to sail. 

The winds shifted to their favor, and the Sea Hog gained speed. He didn’t care where they went—they needed to get _out of here_. He chuckled to himself when he felt the ship regain speed... until he heard the jester gasp.

He turned his head to see that the Red Tide was gaining speed as well, following closely behind. Her cannons showed as she pulled up beside the Sea Hog.

Mako’s stomach churned. He did not want to engage in a goddamn cannon fight with the Red Tide.

“Captain! We need to do something! It’s gainin’ on us!”

Mako gripped the wheel tightly. 

“Get ready for combat! We will engage in combat!”

In a normal situation, his men would have screamed in joy. This time their voices were full of anguish as they yelled directions, desperate and in turmoil. If they had more time, they could outrun her. They just needed something, they needed a distraction—

“Mako!” 

He turned towards the jester, who was clinging into the railing with his eyes wide. 

“I got an idea!”

Before Mako could ask him what the hell he was talking about, the jester sped off, slipping through the men running around on deck and into the gunner.

“Jamison!” he yelled, but Jamison either didn’t hear him or ignored him. Mako wanted to say something, to tell someone to keep an eye on him, but he was far too occupied. 

“Captain! We are ready!” 

“Get ready to be boarded! We will not give up! We will give them a fight!” he roared towards the sea. “We will go down with pride!”

“Captain! The jester! He-”

“What is he doing?!”

“I don’t know! He grabbed gunpowder and—”

Mako heard the sound of a cannon shooting. The Sea Hog just managed to dodge the hit to her rear, but the Red Tide was going to align with them soon. Mako started to brace himself for the upcoming cannonball fight, clenching his teeth as he got ready.

“Hey—wait!”

From the corner of his eye he saw Jamison emerge from the gunnery. He was holding… _something_ , running towards the edge of the ship. The Red Tide was close; Mako could see her crew.

There was something strange about the crew. It looked… different. Mako couldn’t exactly say why or how, but he was distracted by a spark of light coming from where Jamison was standing.   
Jamison was holding a huge bottle of rum, but it seemed like the bottle didn’t have any more rum inside. Mako couldn’t tell exactly the contents, especially since Jamison suddenly lit it and threw it overboard.

Mako saw how the bottle spun in the air, and damn, Jamison might have been a skinny fuck but he had a good arm—it managed to make a smooth arc until it reached the Red Tide.   
It crashed on the deck, and it immediately exploded.

The Red Tide rocked, and Mako didn’t think twice of it. He set to move, not even bothering to look back- it would be wasting too much time.

“Sir, Captain! It’s movin’ again!”

He afforded a look back, and saw the Red Tide move towards them. So Jamison’s explosions didn’t work—but at least gave them a bit of time to move.

“I- I don’t get it!” Jamison screamed. “That’s normally enough to put ‘em down!”

“Jamison!” he screamed, catching the jester’s attention. “Make more of those! Throw them! Keep her away!”

Jamison nodded, running towards the gunnery again. Maybe with enough explosions like that they could delay the ship enough to escape. Any idea was good at this point.

Soon enough Jamison emerged, carrying some bags of whatever it was. Mako wasn’t in any position to pay attention to whatever the jester was doing, as long as he made his impromptu bombs. 

Jamison was a quick worker, however—soon enough he started throwing more bottles at the upcoming Red Tide. They crashed against the outside of the ship, rocking it back and forth with the strength of the explosions. 

Out of the smoke, something emerged, fast and deadly. A chain shot from the explosions, lodging itself into the side of the Sea Hog, just in front of Jamison. The young man yelped as the hook began pulling their ship towards the Red Tide.

“Shit!” Mako yelled, letting go of the wheel and shoving another pirate on it to navigate. He sprinted towards the hook. 

“Mako, it’s pulling us!” Jamison screamed, pointing at it. No need to tell him twice, he knew. 

With his bare hands Mako grabbed the hook and pulled it out of the ship. It was heavy, but his brute strength and the adrenaline rushing through his veins let him unhook it. It was hot from the explosions and he let it drop into the ocean, but instead it snaked its way onto the deck like a living snake.

“What the fuck?!” Jamison reeled away from it, as the hook writhed and dug into the wood. Mako stomped on it. The snake-chain lifted into the air, twitching frantically, like a wild animal. Mako grabbed it with his hand, and pulled at the chain.

His muscles bulged, ripping the chain like it was rope. It was difficult to do, but he was Mako Rutledge, and he wasn’t going to let a stupid weird chain _drag his ship away._

The snake-chain died, dropping onto the floor and becoming a normal, if huge and heavy chain. It dropped into the ocean as Mako threw the head aside. 

Jamison was at Mako’s feet, staring at the edge of the ship as if he couldn’t understand what was happening. To be honest, Mako couldn’t either, but there was no time to think about it for the moment. 

There were few seconds of tense silence just before the sounds of chains slithering through the air reached their ears. Several more chains lodged themselves into the side of the ship as the first one, like snakes. 

His men rushed over to take them off, slashing at them with axes and swords. Some of the chains got on deck, swinging and trying to grab anything they could. Mako stomped and killed them like he did with the first one.

“Ah! No!” 

Mako turned in time to see Jamison being dragged away, one of the chains wrapped around his skinny ankle. The points of the hook dug at his skin, breaking through as it dragged the jester away.

“No! _No no no no no no!_ ”

His fingers dug into the metal in an attempt to stop the chain, but it was useless. Mako stomped on the chain, unsheathing his sword and slicing the thing clean. It wriggled until it died, still wrapped in Jamison’s leg.

“Mako!”

“Be careful!” Mako roared, slicing more chains. It went on for a terrifying minute, until all his men got rid of the damn things.

“Captain! It’s still pursuing us, fast!”

They might have gotten rid of the hooks, but it was going to be all for naught if the Red Tide caught up to them and blasted at them. Mako roared in frustration... at least, until he saw huge rock formations ahead on the sea. His mind worked fast, and he pointed his thick finger towards the rocks.

“Set our course to those rocks!”

“Captain…?”

“Do as I say!” He turned to face the jester, who was cradling his injured leg. He would live. “Jamison! Make more of those bombs, but do not use them!”

“R-roight!” Jamison yelled out, climbing to his feet and getting to work. 

The Red Tide was approaching fast; Mako only hoped that they could get to the rocks in time. His men were nervous, watching as how Jamison mixed strange ingredients inside of empty bottles, setting them aside.

Mako bit his lip, waiting with held breath. He could see how the cannons on the other ship surfaced, but they weren’t aligned just yet. The moment they did, it would be a massacre. 

“Captain!”

They were nearing the rocks. Mako ran over to the steering wheel, pushing the man on it aside. He took it, moving it just enough to avoiding crashing against the rocks, passing next to it. 

“I ain’t think they gonna crash against ‘em, genius!” Jamison screamed. Several explosive bottles sat at his feet. 

“Shut up!” Mako roared, looking towards the Red Tide. It was still approaching, now navigating just next to the rocks.

“Jamison!” he screamed, pointing at the wall of rocks. “Now!”

“Oh!” The jester realized what Mako was planning to do. With his mechanical arm he aimed and threw the bottles against the rock formation. Huge explosions cracked along the surface of it. 

“Help him!” Mako commanded, and the pirates did so. They threw the bottles, just above where the Red Tide was.

The explosions were strong enough for huge chunks of it to separate, causing a terrifying rockslide just where the Red Tide was passing through. The rocks hit it, lodging themselves into the ship and crushing the wood. The ship started to sink into the sea, rocks breaking it and burying it deep into the ocean.

“It is our opportunity!” Mako screamed. “Let’s go!”

His men yelled, cheering as Mako let the Sea Hog roar into the ocean. He didn’t know where they were going, but anywhere was better than staying there. Even if he and his men were cheering, he knew very well that wasn’t going to be the last of Anne Daniels and her ship, and that now they were her target. 

Mako felt his stomach go cold at the thought. There was only so much he could do about it.  
His fingers gripped at the wood of the wheel so hard they left marks on it. Ophelia had lured them there, by no accident. The witch very well knew what she was doing, and this was her plan.

He was going to get there and drag her out, ripping her urchins out of her skin. But not before somehow getting her to stop Captain Daniels. Then? He was going to kill her. He would make her pay. 

“We need to get moving, get back to Tortuga! This is not over!” He gave the steering wheel to the man he had shoved before, walking towards his crew. “We may have avoided her, but we are marked! And we know what happens when Captain Daniels marks someone.”

“She hunts them down,” Jamison added. Everybody stared at him, but he said nothing more. Mako continued. 

“I know someone in Tortuga. The one that would give us the map if I delivered the mirror to her. She may know how to get rid of Daniels.”

“Captain,” one of his men, Adam, called out quietly and anxiously. “Are… are you talking about a witch?”

His men didn’t know, and honestly Mako would rather them not know that he knew a witch. Hell, they probably didn’t believe in witches, but at the moment Mako couldn’t afford them not knowing. To hell with myths. 

“Yes. It is the Sea Witch.”

Everybody went silent.

“I thought witches didn’t exist?” one of them called, skeptically.

“We just fought off a chain that was alive like a snake, are ya gonna question if witches exist?”

“Sir, how can we be sure the witch will help us?”

“I’ll make her. I will crush her neck if she doesn’t.” Mako added darkly. 

They all started to make noise, his crew questioning the decision, others defending it, and others questioning still wherever witches were real or not. Mako was starting to get really tired of it, but they did have a point—how was he sure Ophelia was going to help them? After all, she did lure them to Daniel’s grounds. And she seemed like the kind of person that would rather die than help him. 

“Silence!” Mako stomped his boot against the floor, silencing everybody with his booming voice. Now all eyes were on him, and he was ready to start to speak.

...until Jamison interrupted him.

“Uh, ya know,” his voice was loud, yet nervous. Now all eyes were on the jester. “I ain’t… well, there is tha’ legend, ya know? That the Sea Witch cursed tha’ Red Tide captain.”

“Yes…?” Mako listened, carefully.

“Well, I dunno ‘er, but If I was cursed by some creepy weirdo, I would surely want to find ‘er, and, ya know, get me revenge.” He smiled wide, showing his white teeth. “Ya know what I’m sayin?”

Mako smiled.

“She will surely leave us alone if we give ‘er what she wants.”

That was not a bad idea. That was not a bad idea at all. Actually, Mako was very, very impressed at Jamison’s thinking. 

He started laughing, the sound booming through the ship. 

“It is decided! We will sail to Tortuga! We will have to avoid the Red Tide, and we will have to survive her, but if we managed to escape from her now, we can do so again! And again! Until we get what we want!”

“Yeah!” his men yelled in unison, their fists and swords in the air. 

“It is time to hunt a witch!”

More yelling, the men getting to their stations ready for any attack that came. They screamed, while Jamison simply stood in the middle of the boat. Mako saw how the leg the hook had lodged itself into was still bleeding; not too much, but it was a scratch. The jester didn’t seem to mind it however, with his eyes fixated on Mako instead.

“Well, look at you,” the captain said as he stared down at the young man. “You and your bombs, and that plan. You aren’t a dumb jester after all, eh?”

“Oh, _mi capitan_ ,” Jamison said, his tongue lolling out and licking his teeth. “Ya don’t know half of it.”


	12. Black Tourmaline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako still felt something unsettling deep in his belly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mako and crew attempt to outrun their problems.
> 
> Hello! New Chapter! This one I was very careful to write because its very action-y and i am super self conscious about that.. ... I hope y'all like it, tho!!!!
> 
> REMINDER, that now i have a beta reader therefore fics might come a little bit more late than normal.
> 
> Thank you for reading!! Hope you like it!!!
> 
> Shot out to my bro nami who is my beta reader!!

Despite everybody’s change of attitude due the new plan, Mako still felt something unsettling deep in his belly. Probably the fact that they were being hunted by the most dangerous person in the ocean had to do with it. 

Jamison could sense Mako’s discomfort. He shifted a little and stared up at Mako with a smile that wasn’t too sincere. 

“Hey, if we escaped ‘er one time, we can do it again, eh?” He didn’t sound that sure of himself. “R-roight?”

Mako huffed, turning and going to his cabin. They escaped by sheer fucking luck, but they might not have that luck later. They would have to engage in battle sooner or later, and that terrified him. He gripped the doorknob to his cabin, but instead of entering his room, he stayed outside. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t just hide away in his room. He was the damn captain of the Sea Hog, and his men were relying on him.

“Hm…” 

“What do we do now, Captain?” One of his men asked, before Mako finished his train of thought. 

Mako used it as an opportunity to raise his voice and address the entire crew. 

“We will get ready for the next fight! We must act as if we will fight any second now! We will not relent! Get the cannons ready! I want us to be able to shoot back the second I say so!”

The crew screamed in agreement, overjoyed. Mako decided he could use a drink in that moment, a drink which was in his cabin.

His men continued to cheer and scream while he slipped inside his room, grabbing the wine glass he had in one of his desks. 

Normally he would pay attention to what he was drinking. He was a man that enjoyed his wine, but at this moment he simply did not care, and thoughtlessly poured the nearest bottle on his desk into his glass. 

He was about to take his mask off when he heard a voice behind him.

“Ya don’t believe it for one second, eh?”

Mako huffed, putting the glass of wine on the surface of the desk, but not turning to face Jamison. 

“How sad, a captain not even believin’ what he preaches.”

“Careful, jester. You seem to forget that you are a prisoner of this ship, not a guest.”

Jamison chuckled. “Ya fuck _all_ the prisoners you have?”

“Normally I just kill everybody,” He gripped the wood, hard. “And you are tempting me to keep that tradition.”

“Heh,” he chuckled. “So what are ya planning on doing? Just lie yer way—”

“Do you want to die today, jester?”

Jamison kept quiet, finally. Mako wasn’t about to going explaining his goals to some idiot he sometimes liked to fuck. He stood to his full height, turning around to stare Jamison down. The jester did not move, just staring at the lenses of Mako’s shark mask. 

Jamison was anxious as well. He could feel it the way he stood, on the verge of panic. Who could blame him? Mako was in the exact same situation at the moment. 

“So, what are we going to do, captain?”

Mako was about to lift him by his neck and slam him into a wall, if it wasn’t for the ship shaking violently. Jamison almost slipped and Mako could barely keep standing up. 

“What the fuck?!” Jamison screamed, the sound of cannonballs drowning his voice and making the ship shake even worse. 

Mako made his way outside. His crew was running like crazy, yelling, and it didn’t take Mako too long to see why. 

The blasted Red Tide was closing on them, attacking them with cannonballs from afar. Mako could see how the cursed ship was repairing itself, wooden holes from their previous altercation just healing over themselves, like some kind of weird biological body. The wood grew over the wounds, sealing the ship shut good as new. 

“What in God’s name…?” Mako couldn’t help but whisper as the ship built herself up. 

“What the fuck?!” Jamison pointed at the ship. “It’s fixing itself!”

A cannonball shot from the Red Tide and it barely missed the Sea Hog. Mako could hardly register what was happening- He knew that the ship would be in pursuit of them, but he didn’t think it would happen that _fast_. They could barely take a breather. 

“Fire!”

The Sea Hog fired at the Red Tide, its cannonballs spinning through the air at an amazing speed. 

They struck at the Red Tide’s side, the wood being destroyed in the wake of the cannonballs. The holes remained there for several minutes, before the wood grew over itself. It seemed like a slow process, but it sure was healing itself. 

If they managed to destroy most of the structure of the ship, Mako reasoned, it may take far longer for it to heal.

“Mako—” The jester pointed at the growing holes from the ship. “If we destroy a lot of it, it’s gonna take a while for it to repair itself!”

It seemed like they had the same idea.

“Keep firing!” he commanded his crew, and they did so. The ship continued to hurtle towards them.

One of the enemy cannonballs struck the Sea Hog’s side, rocking the ship savagely. It knocked many of his men and Jamison off their feet, but Mako stood as he felt his blood boil. 

“Captain! Water is seeping in!” one of the men yelled, poking his head through the stairs that lead to the lower level. 

“Then fix the hole! What am I paying you for?! We need to fix the hole immediately!” Mako saw how the man went to work, and turned to face the navigator. “Don’t stop moving! Your life depends on it! Do not stop moving!”

The men nodded, terrified. Mako was trying to figure an easier way to slow the Red Tide down, but everything was happening just way too fast. There was no time to sit down and plan on something with the men screaming, cannonballs swooping through the air. He would have to rely on his instincts.

And his instincts told him to fight. 

“Keep firing!” 

Cannonballs aimed at them landed on the water next to the ship, salt water spraying into the air. The water soaked them all, creating rainbows on the air as the water drops fell like rain. It would be pretty if they weren’t facing their death.

Both ships kept shooting at each other, the Sea Hog able to shoot holes through the Red Tide, but no matter how much they destroyed it the ship would slowly grow back, like a fucking tumor. Mako bit his lip—this wasn’t working at all. They needed to find a quicker way to destroy most of the ship. 

“This ain’t workin’ at all, Captain!” Once again Jamison voiced Mako’s thoughts, like an involuntary parrot. “We gotta find a way to destroy most of the ship!” And again.

“If we can make it explode from the inside, it may buy is some time!”

Okay, that was new. Mako supposed that was a good idea, but how were they going to explode the ship from the inside out?

“Fuck!” One of his men yelled. Mako saw how more water was seeping in, and he rushed to help. He helped seal the holes as fast as they could, hammering the wooden planks over them in an attempt to stop the water from leaking in.

“Captain! They won’t stop coming! The ship keeps repairing itself!”

“Keep firing!” it was all he could say. He still couldn’t come with a plan on how to stop the ship, on how to destroy it. He didn’t know what to do, too much was happening at the same time and—

“Mako, I know how to start an explosion!” Jamison called from behind him as Mako went around doing repairs and still giving commands. “Gunneries are highly explosive—if we set fire to their gunpowder reserve, we might be able to explode it to kingdom come!”

“Jamison—” 

Another cannonball hit the ship before Mako could finish his sentence. The ship rocked back and forth, more water leaking into it. They were running out of time. “We need to repair these holes immediately!”

“Captain, they are going to board us!”

Perfect. Just what they fucking needed.

“Raise your swords! We will fight to the end!” he screamed, unsheathing his sword and making his way upstairs, water up his crotch at this point. His heartbeat was strong, adrenaline rushing through his veins as he was mentally getting ready for the upcoming fight. 

His men on deck already had their weapons raised as the ship closed in. They had killed their chain-snakes before, but it didn’t seem to matter much—strange lumpy creatures that seemed to be the ship’s crew threw their (non-enchanted, hopefully) chains to hook the ship up. 

Mako grabbed the chains and broke them with his bare fists. His crewmates pulled at them, trying to prevent the ship from being hooked. Maybe he was going to die, but Mako was going to fight teeth and nail to keep his ship alive. 

His eyes were focused on the Red Tide herself. He could see the strange crewmates, the ones he couldn’t make a shape out of, but he couldn’t see the captain anywhere. He expected her to be there, watching and ready to board them to kill them, but then he saw her. A tall figure standing, just at the bottom, away from the action, simply staring at her crew attacking Mako’s ship. She didn’t seem very interested, however.

Mako gritted his teeth, gripping a heavy chain in his hand as he pulled it out of the ship. He readied himself to throw it into the ocean, jaw hurting by how much he was clenching it shut. Here it comes.

Something purple and white rushed at the corner of his eyes. 

Mako turned his head and saw that goddamn fucking idiotic jester making its way to the Red Tide.

“Fawkes!” Mako hollered as he saw the skinny shit make its way to the ship. Had he lost his mind? Was he possessed? What the hell was that idiot thinking?

“Fawkes! Get back here this instant!” he screamed, but the fucking asshole just kept rushing, thin enough to pass through between the lumping figures in the ship, just before Mako lost sight of him. 

Well, there goes his treasure and his fuck. Mako’s eyes wandered over where the captain was, but she didn’t seem to notice the fact that a skinny fuck managed to slip through her defenses.  
Now that Mako thought of it, her crew didn’t think to attack Jamison. That was weird—they were completely focused on Mako and his crew. Why?

It wasn’t time to think about that. Mako needed to figure out what to do; he needed to get ready for the upcoming fight. 

“Do not let them step foot! Throw them into the ocean! Do not let them get near!” They kept pulling at the chains, but too many were coming. The lumpy crew were already about to climb the chains to get into the Sea Hog, swords in their mottled hands. 

Mako noticed how Captain Anne tensed, then turned her head towards the gun gallery of her own ship.

Jamison slipped out of it, running like a madman. A second after, the Red Tide rocked violently as the sounds of an explosion started to emerge from within itself, the ship bursting from the inside out. It broke into an explosion, and the chains that were hooked to the Sea Hog snapped.

Jamison managed to jump just before the Red Tide exploded, but he missed by a couple of inches. He was about to plummet into the sea, if it wasn’t for Mako managing to grab onto him and yank the skinny jester onto the deck. 

It rocked the Sea Hog as well, away from them. Some burning debris fell onto the deck, as long as pieces of burning coral, but the force of the explosion was so strong it knocked the ship back far enough for it to not be damaged further. 

Everybody stared hypnotized as the Red Tide burst into fire, but it still stood on the ocean. It did not move.

“What are you waiting for?! Get moving! We need to get away as soon as possible! Move, you rat!” Mako hollered, and the navigator did as ordered. 

The Sea Hog started to get away from the Red Tide, but they still had a good look at it as they sailed. The fire of the ship died, and only the wooden skeleton stood. It was scorched black, smoke rising from it. 

Mako could see Captain Anne on it, unmoving.

Unharmed.

She lifted her gaze, and even if they were far, Mako _knew_ she was staring right at him. 

The Red Tide attempted to move towards them, but more parts of the ship fell into the ocean. It stopped, fresh wood slowly growing over itself, but it was not a perfect process—it fell, or it got burnt. It would take a lot of time for the ship to heal over that explosion.

Captain Anne just stared at them as they made their getaway.

Everybody inside of the Sea Hog exhaled, but Mako quickly got them to shape up once again.

“What are you waiting for?! The ship is damaged! Quick! Fix her! We need to be in top condition! We cannot afford to lower our guard, not even a second!”

They all went back to work, making sure the ship was fully repaired, or at least as repaired as it could be in those conditions. Mako sighed, his tensed muscles relaxing as he took a breath. Oh, he wanted to just go to sleep.

But he had more pressing matters to attend to. Which is why he stared down at the heaving jester, his make up running off his face between his own sweat and the salt water. Jamison chuckled nervously, his lips twisting into an anxious smile.

“What did you _do_ ,” Mako asked, voice low and terrifying. Jamison chuckled once again, scratching the back of his neck with his flesh hand. 

“Er, I got us out?”

“How.” He towered over Jamison easily, his shark mask looking down into the jester. He smelled of gunpowder and smoke.

“I, er, we needed to destroy most of the ship, roight?”

Mako stared at him without saying a word. 

“I made a very er, quick bomb, so uh, I went to tha’ ships gunnery and I set tha’ explosives up in tha’ gunpowder reserve. It.. it made a chain reaction.”

Mako was sure he would be either mad or impressed if he wasn’t so tired. 

There were so many things he wanted to say: good job, you worried me, don’t do that again—so many things Mako wanted to say, but he was convinced that it was a product of the exhaustion. 

So he said nothing. He walked away from Jamison, hearing how he sighed in what seemed to be disappointment as he passed by. 

He didn’t care what the hell the idiot kid thought. It was not his problem. He was their prisoner, and nothing _more_. He would give him the location of his treasure, and be Mako’s fucktoy whenever the captain wanted. That’s all.

He pulled one of his crewmates, Robinson, aside. “I will be in my cabin. Whatever happens, come to me immediately.”

“Aye, captain.”

Everything seemed to be okay with the ship so far, after all. His men were repairing it and he trusted them to do it right. The Red Tide was down and would be down for a while, so Mako could give himself the privilege to sleep a little. 

As he reached his cabin he looked back. He was half expecting Jamison to be right behind him, but instead he was standing at the deck, near the railing, staring into the ocean.

Who cares.

He probably should have a tighter leash with his so called prisoner, but Mako did not want to see the idiot’s face while he slept.

His room was a bit messy, considering the ship had been rocking back and forth before. The wine he had served himself was now on the floor, the glass broken. 

Mako sighed as he picked the bottle up. His mind jumped to how Jamison had rushed into the enemy ship to set it on fire.

It was something he would have done when he was younger. That rush of adrenaline, to know that you are risking your life but making sure your enemies would come down with you—it was the thing that moved Mako to the core. It was something he would still do. 

There were simply so many things going on for that jester; he was no regular person. 

Mako took a chug out of the wine, not caring. Normally he was more cultured and would drink it proper, but he felt that barely escaping death for the second time in one day was enough of an excuse. 

Whatever feelings he felt for Jamison, they were only lust for his treasure. Nothing more, and Mako was going to make sure of it. 

For now the plan was going to be the same. They would go back to Tortuga and get Ophelia, and make sure she regretted crossing them. 

Now THAT was a thought that gave him pleasure. He smiled, taking another chug at the wine bottle and slipping into his bed, bottle in hand. 

One day at a time.


	13. Malachite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She's Coming!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mako and crew keep going with their plan.
> 
> Hello!! I am SO sorry it took me so long to write this one- i had to rewrite some things,a nd then things kept coming up and up and, well. yeah. But now!! now its here, finally! a bit longer than usual as an extra for not updating for a while. I hope y'all like it!!
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!!
> 
> Shot out to my bro nami who is my beta reader!!

The only thing Mako wanted was to get to Tortuga _fast_. They’d managed to destroy the Red Tide, but it would repair itself—it always did. They were running on a timer, and every wasted second was a second of their life. 

Mako stared at the map under his hand, and the route to Tortuga carefully traced on it. They were taking the quickest path, and yet it still felt excruciatingly slow. He grit his teeth, the pencil in his hand cracking underneath the anxious pressure of his fingers. 

He could do this. It’d been a day since the Red Tide went down, and the next day they’d be at Tortuga. He would snatch Ophelia, shove her into his ship, and offer her to Daniels. Easy. Satisfying. Mako couldn't wait, to be honest. No one crossed Mako Rutledge, _ever_. She would pay.

Mako laughed lowly at the idea. He rolled his shoulders, cracking them. He’d been in his cabin for a long while, so he decided to get fresh air and check on how things were going, walking towards the door and onto the deck.

Everything seemed okay, in a way. Everybody seemed to be on edge and with good reason, but they were performing their duties as they should. 

“Status report?” he yelled out to the air.

“No sign of the Red Tide, captain! Skies are clear—we should reach Tortuga tonight!”

Well, that was good. The weather was perfect and they had the advantage. Things seemed to be coming up great so far. 

“Do not lower your guards! Keep cautious every second!”

“Aye-aye, captain!”

His eyes wandered to the other side of the ship, where the jester was sitting on the railing, his feet dangling above the sea. He seemed to have a good grip on the railing he was sitting on, or at least Mako hoped so.

He approached Jamison, who didn't seem to react to Mako's intrusion.

“You'll fall.”

“Aw, ye care about me, big guy?” Jamison laughed, but he still got up and got behind the railing where he wouldn't fall. 

“I care about the treasure.”

“Hmmm,” Jamison hummed, but said nothing else, tapping his mechanical fingers against the rail. 

“How do you know so much about explosions?” Mako intruded. He hated that it looked like he had any interest in the jester (which he didn’t), but it was something that had been bothering him for a while.

Jamison just shrugged—not a real answer.

“I told ya, I was tha' Royal Jester. I ain't no regular clown!” He laughed at this. 

“Seems odd the Royal Jester needs to know about explosives and different ways to kill a person.”

“I know, right? Mystery of the century.”

Well, that didn't really answer his questions at all. He sighed and gave up, making a note to keep an eye on Jamison lest he fall overboard.

“Don't fall off.”

“Aye, Cap'n! Aha!”

Thankfully the rest of the day went smoothly, without anything special happening. He was still cautious and so was everybody else, ready in case Captain Daniels decided to attack... and yet the sea was as calm as she could get. While Mako appreciated the calm, there was a part inside of him that liked the storms, the rough waters that splashed against his skin. 

But not now. Now, their best bet was to take advantage of every calm second the ocean gave to them. 

“I see land!”

As was predicted, the Sea Hog reached Tortuga in the middle of the night. It must have been past midnight; many lights were out, but Mako could see from afar that many others were still alight. They were headed for the port, but Mako interfered. 

“Head for the side! Head to where the shore smells of rot!”

His navigator obeyed, steering the ship away from the port and towards the other side of the island. As they approached the rocky shore Mako was already starting to feel the salt and rotting smell in the air, and so did his crewmates, as they started to gag and dry heave at it.

“Use this!” the chef burst from the kitchen, holding a jar with a waxy ointment inside. The jar had “Peppermint” scribbled on the front, and everybody made their way to dip their fingers in it, coating their upper lips with the waxy ointment. 

“Use these to make candles, to get rid of some of the foul smells of the kitchen.” The man smiled at the others.

Mako very discreetly got his own ointment, grabbing a handful of it with his two index fingers and shoving them under his mask without really lifting it. He smeared it under his nose as well, the fresh aroma reaching his nose and making it easier to breathe. He turned to Jamison, who grabbed a big goop from the peppermint wax and smeared it under his nose as well. His upper lip was now shiny with wax, inviting.

The captain turned around as they kept making their way, inching closer to the rotting shore. Once they arrived the men were about to holler, if it wasn't for Mako lifting a meaty palm, indicating for them to shut up. 

Along with Mako, a group of around ten of his pirates got off the ship. Their heavy feet walked on top of the beach rocks, pebbles crunching under their boots. It was dark, but Mako knew where he was going. They eventually reached the entrance of the cave.

Mako signaled at them to stop, and wait. He moved forward and alone into the cave's mouth, descending. The air was cool, and there didn't seem to be much change since the last time he got there. This time was different, however.

When he reached the bottom of the cave, Ophelia had her back to him. She was busying herself with whatever, and hummed as Mako approached her.

“You're back already, I see.”

Mako grabbed her by the shoulder, the one that didn't have any urchins, and violently ripped her from whatever she was doing. He turned her around, his other huge palm grabbing her wrist and locking her in place. Ophelia stared with wide eyes and slight terror in her face.

“You lied to me.”

“I did not do such thing. I gave you a task to complete, and you didn't ask the necessary questions.” She hissed. “It is not my fault.”

“You sent us to her den to die.”

“And yet here you are.” She smiled, her sharp teeth showing. “Good job, Captain Rutledge. Did you bring the mirror?”

Mako grabbed Ophelia by her hair, forcing her to look to him. She dug her fingers in Mako's arm and shoved herself against Mako, the sea urchins in her skin prickling at him. He shoved her away, slamming the woman against one of her tables as she fell.

“You know very damn well what you did. Daniels is now hunting us, and it’s because of you.” He hissed. Ophelia began to stand up, cracking her fingers and staring angrily at Mako. “She will not stop until she kills us.”

“That is not my problem.” She smiled, cockily. “Maybe if you bring me a lock of her hair…”  
Mako grabbed the nearest object and threw it to her. It was a human skull, and she grabbed it from the air and threw it against the ground, shattering it in millions of pieces.

“Do you know who I am?! You know who you are fighting against?!” Her eyes began to glow, her skin shining as if it was covered with scales. The places where the urchins were poking out of started to leak yellow pus. “Do you have any Idea what I can do?!”

Mako grabbed his weapon—his hook, and threw it at Ophelia. She dodged it in the small enclosure and the hook grabbed one of the shelves, bringing it down. Mako very quickly dragged the hook back to him as Ophelia hissed, stretching her fingers. Water started to sprout from _somewhere_ as Mako threw his hook once again. Ophelia once again somehow managed to dodge, but the hook crashed against another of the shelves, this one full of things like flowers and books.

Ophelia gasped, staring as the hook brought down the shelf. She wailed, immediately ducking at it as Mako yanked his hook back, bringing the shelf with him. Ophelia screamed like a beast, about to leap at Mako... but stopped.

Apart from the books and flowers, there was something more in the shelf, something Mako immediately grabbed.   
It was a velvet bag, big and heavy. Mako could feel something smooth inside. He didn't care; he slipped the bag between his fingers.

“Stop!” Ophelia screamed. Mako stared at her, and then at the bag. He started to squeeze and Ophelia just hollered.

“Please! Stop! Please I beg of you! Don't!” She practically retreated to her more human form, the water that was dangerously rising disappearing. She was on the verge of begging as Mako just stared down at her. “Please, y-you can't, please!”

“Seems this is a bit important to you,” Mako snickered. “Wonder what’s inside.”

He opened the bag and took out the contents. It was a jar, dead flowers inside. It smelled of incense, but there was something inside the jar that interested Mako even more. He opened it, and could hear a soft rhythmical beating.

“Please,” she almost cried. “I beg you…”

A heart. Her heart.

Oh, how this changed things. 

“Found your little secret. Wonder what happens if I squeeze this?”

“No! Please—Mako, you can't—”

“I can, and I will. Unless, of course, unless you do everything I tell you to.”

Ophelia stared at him, her eyes wet with tears, but also full of seething rage. She knew that she had to—Mako was literally holding her life in his hands, and with one movement she would die. She bit her lip hard, until blood oozed out, and nodded.

“I will…” she hissed the words out, staring at the floor. “I will do whatever you want.”

\---

It was still night when they got out of the cave. Even if Ophelia would have followed him, Mako still dragged her by her hair. It wasn't necessary, but oh it was so incredibly satisfying. Ophelia struggled, but Mako just laughed. His men stared in awe at the existence of the witch, but they said nothing as Mako shoved Ophelia into the rocks. 

“Come on.” He tied the velvet bag on his belt, close to him. He would squeeze it and kill the heart inside in a second if he wanted, and let her know that. “Get up.”

Ophelia snarled, but got up nonetheless. She walked along with them through the shore, until they reached the ship. Mako could see every single one of his crewmates turning their heads in awe of the witch, but no one said anything. 

Once on the deck, Mako threw her to the ground once more. His crew made a circle around her, talking amongst themselves as they watched the woman.

“What do you want from me, pirate?” Ophelia stood once again, palms curled into fists. 

“You will pay for what you did to us. You sent us to that demon's den, and now you will pay for it.”

“I cannot stop her. If that is why you brought me here, then it has been a waste of time.”

“Oh, you can stop her, alright,” Mako chuckled. He saw Jamison from the corner of his eye, staring at the woman from a safe distance. He seemed perplexed, licking his lips nervously. “Perhaps not in the way you expect, however.”

Ophelia stared at him, nervously. Mako was enjoying this. 

“We all know you cursed her. If I was in her position, I would truly love the chance to kill the one that cursed me.”

Her eyes went wide, and she took a step back, but there was nowhere to go. She was surrounded by pirates, and Mako still had her heart on his hip. 

“You can't, you—you can't hand me over, she—You can't—“

“I will. You have no other choice, Ophelia. Remember?”

She lifted her arm, long needle like urchin spikes protruding from her hand, aimed to strike Mako. Everybody got on guard, lifting their weapons and pointing them at her. Mako simply had to press his palm slightly against the velvet bag, and she stopped. She stared at him with exasperated pain, her teeth showing and lips twitching, nose crunched up in desperation. 

She brought her hand down, her skin going back to its normal sickly color. 

“I will kill you.”

“You won't have a chance,” he practically whispered. Then, to his crew: “Tie her up and shove her in the jail. I want at least two guards there at all times. Not like she will escape. She knows what will happen if she does.”

Ophelia sneered as she was tied up with chains, staring at Mako all the while. Her eyes bore into him, but he paid no mind. Those were just empty threats, and he really would not hesitate to kill her by crushing her heart. Maybe Daniels wouldn't mind if he killed Ophelia himself.

She was dragged away, and everybody started talking about what they just saw. If there was any doubt that she was a real witch, the urchins sprouting from her body was enough proof for them. Jamison approached Mako, staring down at where the jails were.

“So, what now, captain? We got tha' girl, how we gonna do this?”

Everybody turned at him, because it was a good question. Capturing Ophelia took less time than Mako had intended, but the plan was still in motion.

“We must sail to the sea, and wait.” He took a deep breath. “The Red Tide will come to us, and when she strikes, we will give her an offer.”

There was a lot of talking, gasping and questions.

“How do we know she ain't going to kill us?!”

“I will not let her do that. I will show her proof that we have what she wants, and she will listen to us. It is risky, but we have already faced her twice. We can do it a third time, and it will not be a fight. It will be an exchange.”

His crewmates still weren't completely invested in the situation. Mako couldn't blame them, considering the conditions. 

“You are driving us to our death!”

“How are we sure this will work?!”

“I don't want to die! We will die!”

“This plan is suicide!”

Mako could see how everybody started to raise their voices, getting stressed and rowdy. If Mako didn't take care of this soon, it could become physical and dangerous very quickly. 

“Hey!” a voice called out from somewhere. They all turned, and saw Jamison standing on top of a barrel, to make himself look even taller. “I probably ain't got an opinion in this situation, considerin' how I am yer prisoner of sorts.”

Mako tilted his head, unsure of what the jester was getting at.

“But I heard stories of Captain Mako Rutledge when I was a young boy. I heard stories of him escaping death. I once heard he punched Davey Jones in tha' ugly mug himself!”

Ah, that was a classic rumor. Not true, but Mako didn't bother to correct anyone on it.

“He is tha' man of legends back on land, and he is the man of legends at sea as well! I believe in a man like him! I believe Captain Rutledge will get us out of this alive!”

The men started to agree, and eventually started to cheer on. Their trust in their captain was back, and their worries were washed away with pride and eagerness. They began to pump themselves up, the aura of the area changing into something more upbeat.

Jamison got down from his barrel, cracking his fingers as he approached Mako.

“Felt ya needed a bit of help boostin' up their morale.”

“I did.” Mako sighed. “Thank you.”

Jamison smiled, and it was warm. It made him feel disgusting things, something beyond the lust and sex drive. Something that he hadn’t felt in a while.

But it was just lust, right? That was all there was to it. Just lust. Just the desire to bed him and nothing more, because he had needs. His body had needs. There was a big difference between bedding someone because you had physical needs, and because you wanted to bed them. Hell, if it wasn't that apparently everybody in his ship was heterosexual (what were the odds, really? Mako himself refused to believe that) he would have probably have gotten with someone in his crew.

Except maybe not, because that would make a terrible work environment.

He was rambling in his thoughts, but he made it clear to himself that the only feelings he felt for the jester were of pure lust. There was nothing more; no attraction that went beyond physical. The young man had an endearing attitude, and—

No. Mako was not going to do this. It was stupid and he hated it. 

Jamison was still at his side, but Mako walked away. “Everybody get ready, she could get here at any second.”

His crew yelled in agreement as they got ready for their next encounter. Mako needed to get ready, too.

\---

The night passed and so did the morning, then night once again, and on till morning. While his crew was on edge, they seemed far less nervous this time, now that they had their precious cargo. 

Mako stood in front of Ophelia, still tied up in the jail of the ship. Two of his crewmates were beside him, acting as guards. 

“She's been quiet all this time, Cap'n. Hasn't said a thing since we captured her.”

“Hmm,” he nodded, looking all over her. “Waiting for your judgement, eh?”

She said nothing, simply staring at Mako. He grabbed a lock of her hair, and with a small blade, he cut it. He would use it to show Daniels that they were in possession of Ophelia. That should be enough. 

“Any moment now, Ophelia.”

Silence.

He stood up and turned around, making his way out of the jails.

“Stop lying.”

Mako stopped on his tracks, slowly turning around to face Ophelia. 

“You know I am not lying. You sent us to her den. She will come get us, and you too.”

Ophelia shook her head. 

“I am not talking about that. You are lying.”

Mako cocked his head. 

“You know what I am talking about.”

Honestly he did not. He had no idea what this woman was referring to.

“Have you gazed into the mirror, Mako?”

“I do not need a stupid trinket to tell me what I already know.”

“I can feel things, Mako. It is something I can do. I can feel certain things about other people. And you, are lying to yourself.” She licked her lips. “And those stories only end in tragedy.”

“I have no interest in whatever you are talking about.” He stood, turning around and leaving Ophelia behind. He could only hear her softly chuckling, but he didn't care. He wouldn't have to deal with her for long. 

The velvet bag was still at his hip, as he resurfaced on the deck and looked around. They were in the middle of the ocean with no real objective in mind, simply awaiting for their attackers to appear. Mako licked his lips, wishing everything could just get itself over with. 

The map to the castle came to mind. Ophelia was supposed to give them a map to get into the castle, but that plan had gone to hell. He would have to find another way to get a way inside. Maybe he would have to use the stupid mirror in the end. He would figure that out later; after all, he couldn’t storm the castle if he was dead. One thing at a time.

Jamison was sitting in a barrel, playing with his metallic juggling balls. They clinked in the air, the bells inside making soft noises. 

“Aren't you a little too carefree?” Mako asked, staring at the young man.

“Told ya mate—I do really trust ye! Ye are gonna get us out of this one, I know.”

Mako felt weird, that the jester they basically stole was being so trusting of Mako. His stupidity, he guessed. 

There was something in Mako's mind, since Jamison exploded the ship. He wanted to grab Jamison, shove him into the bed and have his way with him once more. He hungered for it, fingers twitching. But he was far too busy and worried; he couldn't afford to risk being caught by Daniels with his pants down. Besides, after this he would have all the time of the world to enjoy Jamison.

Lust. That's all. Just lust. Nothing more.

“Hey, wanna hear a joke?” Jamison piped up, juggling the metallic balls in the air as he sat on the barrel. 

Mako groaned.

“Did ya know what they call a king with no royal subjects?” Mako shook his head, and the other pirates stared intently, waiting for the punchline. “A—”

The ship rocked violently to the side, throwing everyone but Mako to the floor. Jamison was violently thrown off as well, his juggling balls running afoul as he crashed on his back. Mako noticed how he immediately went to retrieve the balls, like dear life. Maybe they were mementos, or he just didn't want to spend money on new ones. 

Nevermind that. Mako felt another violent rocking through the ship, and watched the sky turn grey.   
It was starting.

All the pirates ran to the edge of the ship, looking through the railing and into the sea where the water was bubbling tremendously.

“She's coming!”

The ship surfaced violently, water pouring off it. The sea spat it out, so close to the Sea Hog it crashed against it, knocking the ship aside with force. Mako's crew had to hold on just to keep from flying away as the Red Tide ascended from the depths of the ocean. It was still ascending as the snake-like chains from before lodged themselves in the side of the Sea Hog, uniting both ships. It dragged them along with her, closer.  
Mako gritted his teeth through it all, watching as the Red Tide finished its ascension. He ran towards the edge of his ship and saw the crewmates from up close.

They weren't human; they were just human shaped, wearing mockeries of human clothes. They were made of coral of many colors, lumpy and strange. It was a terrifying sight—coral that acted like people. They had their weapons ready; not human, but still desiring bloodshed.  
Mako could see—from behind them all, staring with her arms crossed—Captain Anne Daniels. She stared with hateful eyes at him, and was about to raise her hand to indicate her monster crew to attack.

Until Mako raised his own hand, a long lock of Ophelia's hair hanging from his fingers. 

Daniels immediately stopped, eyes wide and thin mouth slightly agape.

Mako smiled under his shark mask, waving the hair lock. 

“Captain Anne Daniels, captain of the Red Tide and her crew,” Mako called out. “I am Captain Mako Rutledge, captain of the Sea Hog and her crew.”

She squinted her eyes, tilting her head. 

“I have a proposition for you.”


	14. Crystal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Anne stared at Mako, and at the hair locks in his hand. She knew who it was from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Captain Anne Daniels boards the Sea Hog
> 
> Hello! There wasn't an update last week- sorry! Work was hell so yeah.   
> I am excited about this part! I wanted to write this chapter for a while. I hope you guys like it!!
> 
> Thanks to my beta reader, Nami!! Love you man! 
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!

The sounds of the waves crashing softly against the ships were the only audible thing. Everybody on Mako’s crew stared anxiously, their hands hovering above their weapons, limbs shaking in terror, but ready to strike if needed.

Captain Anne stared at Mako, and at the hair locks in his hand. She knew who it was from, Mako could tell. 

When she started to stride towards their ship, everybody tensed. Only Mako kept calm as the woman made her way towards him, her footsteps loud and terrifying. Her crew, the strange coral men, followed her slowly, but without attacking. The closer she got the more anxious his men became. Mako only hoped they didn’t do anything stupid.

Daniels finally boarded the ship, and Mako felt a growing unease. He had hoped he never had to be this close of the woman, and yet there she was. Her skin was made out of coral, and she had a haunted look in her face. If Mako hadn’t know who she was, he would say she looked beautiful, in a strange, horrifying way. Her men boarded along with her, but kept their distance, their hands also ready to draw and attack Mako’s crew if necessary.

She got close enough to Mako, just a few steps away, for him to see she was almost as tall as Jamison. She stared up at him, emotionlessly.

“Mako Rutledge,” she said. Everybody flinched at the sound of her voice. At one point Mako thought that her voice would sound like a horrifying monster—but it was the same as any normal woman. “I’ve heard a lot about you, and the things you’ve done.”

“The same can be said about you, captain,” he answered back. “You have a nasty reputation in the ocean, killing men and all.”

“No, no-no-no, not _men_.” She smiled sharp, her pearly white teeth shining under the light. “ _Pirates._ ” 

Mako felt something unsettling deep in his belly, but said nothing. Daniel’s smile disappeared, and she stared daggers at him. “You destroyed my ship. More than once.”

“You were chasing us with the intent to kill us.”

“You know well why. You pirates are all the same. You just do whatever you want. Take and take and nothing else, and yet I am the one that is labeled a monster.” She took a step forward, closing the gap between them. “You have something that belongs to me.”

“Let’s talk business, first.” Mako was calm; he wasn’t going to let nerves get the worse of him. 

“I do not have any business with the likes of you. You are lucky I haven’t killed you yet.”

“I have something you want.”

“You have several things I want, pirate. Your life, for one.”

Mako was about to talk back, when something small clinked against the floor. He turned his head and saw one of his pirates, who’d accidentally knocked over a small bucket. Next to the pirate was Jamison, gripping the railing and staring at the fallen bucket. 

Mako rolled his eyes, but immediately noticed Daniels gaze was fixated on the jester.

“You,” she pointed a coral finger at Jamison. “You were the one that burnt down my ship.” 

She attempted to walk towards him and everybody tensed. Mako blocked her path, knowing that this was going to go south very soon if he didn’t do something quick.

“I have captured the Sea Witch and she is on the brig,” he interrupted her pace with that. Her eyes went wide, locking onto Mako. “I know you have unfinished business with her, and I know you would do anything to settle these issues. What if we make a trade?”

Her mouth twitched.

“We gave you the witch, so you will give us our freedom. A pardon, if you must. Forgiveness for having breached into your grounds.”

Daniels was about to say something, but stopped. Her mouth opened and closed several times, and she watched the horizon, deep in thought. 

“Is it… really her?”

“Ophelia, the sea witch. And she is yours.”

She bit her lip, and stared at Mako.

“A deal has been made. You will hand her to me, and I will forgive your miserable life, for now.” She got very close from Mako’s face, snarling at him. “But you are a filthy pirate, and I will eventually get you, like I do with all pirates. It is just a matter of time, Mako Rutledge.”

“If you say so.”

She retreated, face full of determination as she said one final thing. “I will collect her. None of you will touch her. After we leave, I will not follow you.”

“Sounds good to me.”

She kept her sight on Mako as she walked, eventually breaking eye contact and silently making her way down the brig. Mako wanted to yell in happiness, a huge sigh spilling from his lips as he felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Jamison’s soft giggles came back, surely content as well. 

They had succeeded. They had finally succeeded. Mako just wanted to drink a huge pint of beer, and then go to sleep for two days straight. A part of him couldn’t believe that plan worked, either. 

“So,” Jamison slowly approached him, looking about. The coral men hadn’t moved an inch, but they were still extremely unnerving. “I guess that’s it, eh? We got outta this alive.”

Mako nodded. There was still a lot to do, like actually figuring out a way inside the castle. But that could be fixed later. He just wanted Daniels and her crew off his ship, pronto. Then he could figure out what to do. 

He saw his men starting to relax; still eyeing the coral men, but visibly calmer. Mako sighed, just hoping whatever Daniels was going to do, she would do it fast.

The ship rocked violently from one side or another, a scream rippling through the waves as the coral men unsheathed their swords and pressed them against Mako’s men’s throats. Mako immediately acted, sword in hand, until he felt the cool pressure of a blade against his throat. He saw the coral man who was about to attack him, and Mako considered it for a second. He could win this. It wouldn’t be the first time someone slashed his throat. That had been a fun day. 

It was then when he saw one of them pointing at Jamison, the young man terrified out of his wits at the sword pointed at his throat. They hadn’t attacked yet. If Mako did something, they would, and Jamison—

His _crew_ would die. 

The ship continued to violently rock, as if something within the ship was moving it, and there was far more screaming. 

“MAKO RUTLEDGE!”

Fuck.

Oh fuck.

Captain Anne Daniels practically burst out of the brig, a sword in her hand, running towards Mako. It happened way too fast for Mako to be able to avoid it, and she attacked with a slash.   
He stumbled back, the blade making a cut in his stomach. This was enough for his crew to try to retaliate, screaming as they started attacking the coral men. They stabbed at them, but their swords just pierced and didn’t affect them.

Mako didn’t have time to pay attention to that, however, with Captain Anne pushing him to the ground, her sword on his throat. He was massive, but the woman was exceptionally strong—perhaps part of her curse?

He felt the air escape his lungs as he smashed against the deck, the woman pressing the blade against him. Her hair was messy, face consumed with rage. Her eyes were almost glowing, teeth bared as she readied to slit Mako’s throat.

“Do you take me for a fool?” she snarled, pressing the blade even harder, drawing blood from his neck. “Do you realize that mocking me has grave consequences?!”

Mako could only think what she was referring to. He looked around, and his men were being detained, weapons dangerously close to their necks and hearts, but they weren’t being attacked just yet. 

“The brig is empty, Rutledge. I didn’t think this is how you wanted to die.”

“She was there,” Mako hissed. “I captured Ophelia, I went to her cave and dragged her out of it. I have proof. This hair should be proof. I don’t—”

 _“Silence!”_ Her voice boomed through the air. Mako pushed her off him, standing up and grabbing his own sword and slashing.

She parried it, and he saw her coral men attacking. Out of the corner of her eye he saw how some of his men immediately went down, the coral people stabbing them in their ribcages, stomachs and throats. 

Mako felt his heart in his throat, seeing his men drop dead. “Stop! We had a deal—leave my men alone!”

“You promised me the witch, but she is gone. Am I supposed to believe you?”

“You know you do. You believe me. I have her hair, and you know it's hers. I have her hair! I can—” Mako was running out of ideas. “I can get her back. I will capture for you. I will personally deliver her to you.”

She stopped, and so did her men. She had a strange look on her face, as if she was enraged by herself by even considering the idea, but Mako knew she was _considering_ it. He grabbed the hair lock from his pocket, and presented it to Daniels.

She snatched it out of his hands, her thumb pressing at it.

“I want her.” She stared at Mako, the normally pink coral of her face a shade of red. “Alive. I want her to kill her myself.” 

Before Mako could say anything however, Daniels pressed her sword against his neck again, stepping forward and forcing Mako to step back to stop from being stabbed. 

“I am being far too reasonable and forgiving, Rutledge. You have a week. If you don’t find her in a week, I’ll kill all your crew, and you.”

She looked around, and added: “I can see you care about your men. Rare, for pirate scum.” She pressed harder. “I will take your ship, and your men. Call it a little bit of insurance.” 

“How am I supposed to find her without my ship?”

“There’s a boat attached to this, isn’t there?” She bared her teeth. “You should feel lucky I’m not just throwing you off the ship.”

“This is ridiculous, I—”

She snapped her fingers and one of the coral men stabbed another one of his men in the stomach. Mako gritted his teeth and had to fight the urge to punch Daniels as he saw his man collapse, dead, on the deck. 

“I do not care. You don’t deliver her to me, and your men will die, and I will drag you to the ocean myself. You are going to wish Davey Jones was the one that killed you.”

Daniels smiled, raising her free hand. 

“Let’s see how much it takes for your men to lose faith in their pirate captain. You have ten minutes to leave, Mako Rutledge, or I will kill another one of your men. Is that what you want?”

Mako took a deep breath. Silently, he turned around, walking towards the ship’s tender, the small boat to transport people. His men stared at him. He could feel the horrible thoughts his men had, the loss of hope, the way they watched him, silently begging him to not leave. 

Everything had gone to shit. 

As he got the dingy prepared for his sail he could hear Captain Daniels’ footsteps, and for a second he thought she was going to bother him again. However the steps took a different direction.

“I know you.”

Mako turned his head to see the woman standing in front of Jamison, awfully close. The man was hunched, and completely terrified of her. 

“I, er—”

“You were at the palace.” She looked up and down at him. “You’re the king’s jester.”

Jamison sputtered and straightened up, anxious. “I—I was kidnaped, ma’am, I-I-I was taken by force! I am—I—”

“Are you? You burnt my ship.” She stared at him. “I saw you. You are the one that burnt my ship down. If you truly are here against your wishes, then why did you destroy my ship?”

Jamison eyes widened as he started to step back from her, but Daniels just kept closing the gap, sword in one hand. 

“I—I don’t—”

“I saw you the first time, and I knew that you had been kidnapped. I had the intention of saving you. You were just an innocent caught in a terrible situation.” Jamison was now at the edge of the boat, his back against the railing. “But you burnt my boat.”

“I’m…”

“This boat is part of me. Everything that happens to her, I feel. I felt how it burns, my skin burning along with it, my insides screaming from the inside out. My bones felt as burning lava, eating me alive.”

She was now dangerously close to him, and Mako had completely stopped. The boat was almost ready, but he just stared at the woman.

“I’m sorry—”

She hit him hard with the hilt of her sword in the face, completely knocking him out. Jamison dropped backwards, limp, towards the ocean. He crashed against the surface with a terrible cracking sound. 

Mako made no sound. His actions were automatic. Before he knew it, he was on the boat and he dropped violently with it into the ocean, the dingy crashing against the surface, shaking his entire being. 

His eyes scanned the sea but he couldn’t see a thing, he couldn’t see Jamison anywhere. He threw himself off the boat and into the ocean, swimming as the waves started to get wild. He swam, heart in his throat, as he tried to find any sign of the jester.   
He didn’t know how much time had passed since Jamison hit the water, but it felt like hours. He swam and swam, his chest feeling like it was about to cave in for the lack of oxygen, his mask filling with water.

And there it was. Something shiny, sinking fast. Mako wasted no time as he swam towards the sinking jester, eyes blurry as he grabbed him by one arm and pulled him harshly towards the surface.

He broke the water’s surface, using his free hand to open his mask a little to let the water pour out of it. He raised Jamison’s face above the surface, but he was still unconscious. He held him close as he scanned for the boat, and he could see the tender, far in the horizon. 

He groaned as he swam, faster than he had ever swam in his entire life. He held Jamison close to his body, his fingers wrapped around his waist and making sure his head was always above water. His muscles burned at the swimming, at the position and inability to use both arms. It was hell. It looked like the dingy was getting farther away, but Mako roared into the wind and swam as fast as his body let him.

It took him everything he had, his entire body in agony, but he reached it. He finally reached the small boat, and the first thing he did was dump Jamison into it, before climbing in, himself. Mako’s body was exhausted, and yet the first thing he cared for was Jamison. Jamison didn’t seem to be breathing. 

Panicked, he thoughtlessly slammed Jamison’s chest with a closed fist, horrified of what he had done immediately after. However, it seemed to work, as Jamison started to cough, puking water and curling into himself, shivering. He seemed still out of it and Mako wasn’t about to wake him up, at least not until he figured out what to do next.

It was then when it all hit him, what had happened. He looked around and saw the Sea Hog and the Red Tide were gone, vanished without a trace. There was nothing around them apart from the blue ocean and the sun hitting their bodies. 

He had fucked up. He had massively fucked up, and now he was in a boat in the middle of the ocean, with only a week to find the Sea Witch. It had all started so good, and now everything had gone to fucking hell. He lost his men and his boat, and any way to find Ophelia. Everything he had worked for had been taken away so easily, it was laughable. Disaster after disaster had happened and would keep happening, from the look of things.

Mako screamed into the sky, frustration finally spilling out of him. 

His eyes went wide with realization. He checked his hip, and sure enough the velvet bag with Ophelia’s heart remained there. In a move, he got the bag and was about to crush the heart, killing that woman in one second.

However, he grit his teeth as he remembered Anne demanded her alive. If he killed Ophelia, then Anne would have no excuse not to kill his men as well. As much as he wanted to rip apart that heart vein by vein, he needed to keep her alive, for now.

Mako took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He was furious, but he couldn’t think straight when he was in that state. He had the right to be absolutely enraged, but he forced himself to calm down, to try to think clearly.

First, they needed to get to land. Then he could figure out exactly what to do, a way to track Ophelia. He had her heart with her, and Mako guessed that she couldn’t go too far without it, so she couldn’t be _too_ far. Hopefully.

Now that he calmed down a little, he could see there was a small island at the horizon. Quickly, he started to row towards it, trying to remember what route they were in.

If he was right, considering where the Sea Hog was before they were boarded by Daniels, that island should be Port Eleanor. Mako had been there a couple of times, but couldn’t remember much of it. 

He didn’t care. He moved fast. They weren’t that far from it so it would take them maybe a couple of hours to reach—didn’t matter, he had the stamina to get there. 

Jamison stirred in the floor of the boat, his skin still wet. The paint was almost completely smeared off, his messy hair dripping wet and now yellow instead of its painted purple. 

It felt wrong in a way, to see him like that, unpainted, and Mako remembered how Jamison had mentioned something about the masks they wore. It felt too… intimate.

He looked away, not wanting Jamison to know he had been staring when he woke up. Mako just focused on rowing, the waves crashing against their boat.

He only had a week before he could find Ophelia. It wouldn’t be easy task, but he had made up his mind. After all, there was a small ray of light in his future, as the velvet bag was still hanging from his hip. If he didn’t find Ophelia soon enough, then it would be easy.

Mako would grab the heart and crush it in his palm.

The thought made him chuckle silently.


	15. Apophyllite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We’re getting Ophelia back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Jamison start a journey.
> 
> Hello! New chapter! I hope you guys like this one, its not as action-y as the previous one, but sometimes we need stuff to fill in the gaps, hehe.
> 
> I hope you guys like it! Thank you for reading!
> 
> Shotout to my gf Trish who was my beta reader!

Mako swerved towards the island; he could have gone directly to the docked ships, but he didn’t know if the port was pirate-friendly, so he decided to be safe and change his route towards a seemingly safe and empty beach. As he kept rowing, Jamison started to stir, catching Mako’s attention.

“F-fuck,” Jamison hissed, grabbing his head and rubbing at the sore spot where Daniels had hit him. “What happened?”

He opened his eyes and stared around. When he noticed where he was, he sat up quickly, staring at Mako and then around himself. “Oh, so I didn’t imagine it, eh? Her throwin’ me off tha’ boat?”

“You didn’t. She did throw you.” Mako kept rowing, silently.

“Ye pulled me out?”

“Don’t think anything of it, I still want my gold.”

Jamison would have chuckled, but there was exhaustion on his face. He looked around and noticed where Mako was headed. 

“Where are we at?”

“Port Eleanor,” Mako rumbled.

Jamison remained silent for the rest of the trip. When the water was shallow enough, Mako got off the boat and dragged it to shore with Jamison inside. He didn’t even bother telling the Jester to help; he was so lithe that Mako had no problem just dragging him around. They were both quiet as they alighted on the shore, Jamison getting out of the small boat and onto the sand.

“So, what’s tha’ plan now, Captain?”

“We’re getting Ophelia back.”

“But we got no idea where she is. How we gonna get ‘er?”

Mako grumbled as he walked towards the vegetation. Jamison followed closely behind. “Where we goin’?”

They stopped at the edge of the woods and Mako peeked his head through the bushes. He saw the port ahead of him and the Royal men that filled it. Mako could tell from their uniforms. Well, so much for going into the town and getting the things he needed.

“Hmm,” Mako sighed. “I know of Ophelia’s hideouts, but I’ll need a map. I can’t just waltz into this town; it seems to be occupied by the King’s guard.” 

Mako then looked at Jamison. The Jester looked strange, for sure, but he wouldn’t stick out too much apart from the getup. He considered the possibility of someone recognizing him, but they were far from the King’s palace and, unless someone very personal to the King was there, Jamison wouldn’t be recognized.

Which reminded him of something, too.

“How come Captain Daniels recognized you?”

Jamison tensed a little, chuckling nervously as if he wasn’t sure if Mako was going to be upset or not. “Er… well, she has been in tha’ palace before. Seen her couple of times. But we…we never spoke or anythin’, we just saw each other.”

Mako blinked. He knew that she worked for the King and was his best weapon against pirates. But still, it piqued his curiosity.

“Did they talk about anything in particular?”

“Don’t know. When she came in, they always kicked me out, never gave me a chance to hear what they talked about. Besides, she gives me tha’ creeps.”

Mako chuckled. Well, his question was answered, so it was time to move on. He sat on his ass, sighing as he cracked his knuckles. “I need a map.” He pointed a fat finger at Jamison. “I can’t get out there or I will be hunted and we don’t need that right now. So you will go and get me a map.”

Jamison eyes widened in curiosity. 

“You still got your gold, eh? Use something small like a ring to get a map. We will steal one of these boats at night and then move on with the plan. But for now, I need you to go and get a map.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to steal one?” Jamison asked.

It was tempting because, even if it was a small ring, Mako did not want to get rid of his gold. However, there was still the possibility of Jamison being caught, and Mako had to be careful. While taking out the officers wouldn’t be difficult at all, it would be a waste of time. His primary focus was to get back his ship and crew. 

“No. No need to risk it. I’ll stay here. Get back as fast as you can.”

Jamison saluted and smiled. “Will do, Captain!”

With that, he emerged from the bushes. A few seconds later, Mako stared out to see the man walking towards the shops. It hopefully wouldn’t take too long and, while the Jester was away, Mako stared at the ships in the port, trying to figure out the easiest to steal.

The port wasn’t heavily monitored, which was good. There were a few drunken officers here and there and some sailors on their ships keeping an eye. Mako didn’t need a big ship, just something that he and Jamison could take care of alone. A small ship, not high-maintenance, and he had just spotted one. 

It was small and not in too good condition, but it would do. They would have to raid it in the middle of the night; hopefully, they wouldn’t have much issue with it. 

Now that that was decided, Mako just laid on the grass, his arms crossed, and waited as he observed the tree leaves moving above him. 

His mind wandered to Jamison and how he saved him. Surely, it was only for the money. That was it. There was no-

Mako sighed as he realized he had started to think about that _again_. Instead, he blanked out his mind. He needed to keep calm if he wanted his plan to go right.

About two hours passed before Jamison came back, giving Mako a slight fright as he practically jumped into the bushes. The Captain had fallen asleep under a tree and the sudden noise jolted him awake.

“Sorry mate, did I wake ya up?”

Mako grumbled, rubbing at his mask as Jamison approached. He was carrying a scroll in his hands, which he placed on the grass and opened. He placed rocks at the edges so it wouldn’t curl into itself and pointed a metallic finger at the island at one point.

“We’re here!”

Mako already knew that, but said nothing. He instead paid careful attention to the map. It had been years since he had been there and he couldn’t remember its exact position, but now with the map he knew for sure. 

“Hmm.” The map illustrated the sea around them, a good chunk from the east peninsula to Davey Jones’ Tomb (just a name, really. As if Davey Jones had an actual tomb). It seemed to contain every bit of sea and land that Mako was looking for. 

He picked a small piece of charcoal that he kept in a small pocket, which thankfully had not fallen out during his swim. He started scribbling circles at very specific spots on the map, the ones that he remembered. Luckily, he was able to remember every single spot he was looking for by just looking at the map.

Once he finished circling parts on the paper, he sighed, placing the charcoal down and pointing at the map.

“These here are- what are you doing?”

Jamison had a small mirror in his hand, no bigger than his palm. With the other hand, he was reapplying makeup once again, his face now fully decorated and his hair dyed once more. Mako spotted the velvet bag at his feet with makeup products inside.

“I don’t ask ye about yer mask, do I?”

Mako rolled his eyes and had to resist the urge to break his neck, but instead took a deep breath. “I need your attention.”

“I’m actually done!” he said contently, shoving the mirror back into the velvet bag and tying it to his belt. That’s when he finally looked at Mako and at the map.

“Okay. Ophelia may be the witch of the sea, but that doesn’t mean she can move through all of it. She got a small range.” Mako pointed at the circles he drew. “She has nests. The place we dragged her out of is one of her nests; we need to look through the other nests until we can fish her out.”

“Why do ya think she’ll be there? Can’t she just hide somewhere else?”

“You know how she looks like the ocean swallowed her, just like Daniels?” Jamison nodded. “She supposedly cursed Daniels with whatever curse Ophelia has. This makes her weaker than she used to be. She has to have a nest, otherwise she will die in the open ocean.”

“But we drove her out of one of her nests?”

“Well, we didn’t want her to survive.” Mako crossed his arms. “I still have no idea how she escaped. One of her witchy tricks. But we are getting her back.”

“Gonna have to break her arms, or somethin’.”

Mako chuckled lowly at the idea. 

“We will start at the closest one. We need to do this fast, so we can deliver her to Daniels and get the Sea Hog back.”

“How are we gonna do that? We ain’t got nothin’ but that small boat.”

Mako pointed towards the docks. “We will wait until night and steal one of the small ships in here. We will use that to travel.”

“Ooooh, sounds like a nice idea!” Jamison smiled wide. “Gotta wait ‘till night, then!”

Mako nodded and crossed his arms, relaxing. He didn’t want to, but it wasn’t like there was anything else to do. Jamison grabbed another small bag that he was carrying on his belt, opened it, and took out a pair of apples. He threw one at Mako and started to bite the other. 

Mako observed the fruit. He was hungry, but also aware that he was in front of Jamison. The Jester looked at him strangely, eyes going wide.

“Sorry mate!”

He turned his back to Mako and the Captain understood. He hadn’t even considered it, but he would have to slightly pull his mask up to eat the apple. Jamison had understood and immediately gave him privacy. 

That…that was novel. Jamison didn’t seem to even ask what was under his mask, or if he could see or try to take a peek. He simply respected it, and that made Mako feel strange. Not even his men were so respectful of his choice to hide his face.

Still slightly stunned, he very carefully lifted his mask so only his lips were showing and took a bite. He stared at Jamison, but the young Jester didn’t seem to make any effort to peek.

Mako ate his apple, still stunned, in silence. 

\---

The port was empty, the ships tied to the piers with torches illuminating the decks. It was quiet apart from the sound of the waves hitting the ships, gently rocking them back and forth.   
For a man his size, Mako knew how to be silent. He sneaked through the shadows towards his desired boat. Jamison followed just barely behind. Mako appreciated how silent the young Jester was at the moment, considering how loud and clumsy he normally was. 

Mako waited in the shadows for Jamison to come over. They reached the ship and halted next to it, hidden by the shadow. He got very close to Jamison and whispered in his ear as he pointed upwards.

“Wait here until I give the signal.”

Jamison nodded and sat on his hands. Mako nodded as well as he tried to figure out how to get on the ship. While they were hiding, he spotted two people on deck; hopefully, there weren’t more. Silently, he noticed the anchor’s chain and made his way to it, climbing it as quietly as he could. It was slippery, but he managed to make it to where the chain began. The ship was big enough for the anchor to be lowered and raised with a mechanism, so he was forced to climb the hull itself. 

It was difficult, but it wasn’t the first time he had climbed a ship like this. He used the uneven wood as leverage, using a small dagger he carried to stab into it and steady himself. It took a while, but Mako finally made it to the deck. 

The wood creaked underneath his foot as he climbed to the deck. He quickly hid behind some barrels, having to crouch to hide his figure.

An old man with a torch in his hands was making rounds on the deck. He yawned tiredly, rubbing his eyes to stay awake. Mako waited until he was close to the barrels, licking his lips as the old man approached without noticing his presence.

The moment he got close enough, Mako reached over from the barrels, giant hands grabbing the man and snapping his neck before he even managed to scream. Taking his torch, he threw the body overboard and listened to it crash against the water.

Mako chuckled, getting out of his hideout as he heard a door opening.

“Morris? Did you drop the torch again? Don’t be such a clumsy-”

Mako was already holding him aloft by the neck before the man could finish his sentence. He stared at Mako with wide eyes, terrified. With just one thumb, Mako managed to gag him. 

“Are there more men on this ship?”

The man desperately shook his head, on the verge of crying. Mako rumbled contently. Then proceeded to break his neck and throw him overboard.

He believed the man when he said there was no one else on the ship, but Mako made sure anyways. It was small, so going through the rooms wasn’t difficult at all, and apart from some rats there didn’t seem to be anybody else.

He returned to the deck and peered through as he saw Jamison in the same spot, tapping his fingers on the ground beneath him and scratching his belly. He called to him silently, making soft _psst_ sounds to grab his attention. 

“Hey.”

Jamison looked up and immediately spotted him, smiling as he did so. Mako reached for a rope lying on deck and threw it down to the Jester. Jamison grabbed it, but before he could even attempt to climb, Mako pulled him up.

Once both were on deck, he pointed below and spoke lowly. “I will pull the anchor up. You stay here and scream if anyone comes.”

Jamison nodded and Mako made his way to the mechanism. Normally, it took two or three men to activate it, but with his strength, Mako had no issue. He pulled it quickly, the anchor rising from the water and going to its idle position. Once done, Mako quickly made his way above deck, where Jamison was keeping guard. 

Time to go.

“I need you to set the sails. You know how?”

“Saw yer men doin’ it; it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Mako nodded as Jamison climbed the ship’s mast, quickly making his way towards the ropes with amazing dexterity. He was a Jester, after all. He managed to deploy the sails; luckily, the wind was strong that night, enough for the ship to start sailing. Slowly but surely, they moved out of the port and onto the ocean.

Once they were far away from port, Jamison climbed down the mast, cracking his fingers as he grabbed a small oil lamp and lit it with a match lying nearby to illuminate the ship. Mako was already behind the wheel, a crate sitting next to him with the map spread out on top.

“Where we goin’ now?” Jamison asked, placing the oil lamp next to the map. 

“Widow’s Peak. That’s the closest nest to us. Should be a couple of hours from here.”

“Hey,” the Jester called, curious. He pointed at the velvet bag on Mako’s belt. “What’s in there? I know ye used it to control tha’ witch.”

“It’s…” 

From the look of things, Jamison would stick with Mako for the entirety of the trip. It would be important for him to know how it was that he was able to keep Ophelia under control, so against his normal judgement, he decided to share the information. 

“Her heart. It was carved out or something and it’s in this bag. If it gets crushed, she dies.”

“What!” Jamison got to his feet and attempted to crawl towards it, but Mako used a giant palm to stop him and push him back. “What ya waitin’ for! Why don’t ye just squeeze and kill ‘er?!”

“Oh, I wish,” Mako replied lowly. Jamison grabbed his hand but without the intention of pushing it away, just looking curiously up at Mako. “Daniels wants her alive. If I kill her, she might kill my men.”

“Oh,” He sat on the floor once again, thinking about it. “Makes sense. Ya wanna take care of yer family.”

“Hm?”

“Them. They’re yer family, eh?”

Mako shrugged. “I guess.”

Something strange made Mako think. There was something on his mind.

“Why haven’t you tried to escape?”

Jamison stared at him. It was a legitimate question; he was Mako’s prisoner and they were at a port. Had Jamison wanted, he could have escaped at any moment. Hell, Mako gave him the perfect opportunity when he told him to buy the map. Now that he thought about it, the Captain felt absolutely stupid for doing that. But Jamison hadn’t left. Why?

Jamison shrugged. “Ain’t got nowhere else to go.”

“You have money, and you could have escaped. You didn’t.”

“I ain’t too smart, mate.”

Mako didn’t press it, but he knew it wasn’t that. He wondered about the whole “having nowhere else to go.”

Well, whatever real reason it was, at least Mako wasn’t alone in this.

He rolled his eyes at the idea. He was getting soft. For all he knew, Jamison would try to shank him the moment he closed his eyes.

But he had had the opportunity before, when he fell asleep and Jamison caught him. He was an easy target, stupid from exhaustion. And yet he hadn’t. Jamison just… he just hadn’t. 

Jamison Fawkes. A man of mystery.

A mystery he would uncover another day. For now, his mind was on one thing only: reaching Widow’s Peak.


	16. Pyrite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It would be a lovely sight, a lovely night if it wasn’t for his current predicament.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Jamison arrive at Widow's Peak
> 
> Hello!! Finally a new chapter!! I'm sorry there was a delay, i was focued on My Kingdom for a Pig. now that is over, however! so now i can focus on this fic. I hope you guys enjoy this fic!
> 
> This chapter is VERY graphic. If you feel queasy about corpses/rotten flesh/organs/decomposition and stuff then skip this chapter!! thank you!
> 
> Shotout to my gf trish who was my beta for this chapter! Shot out to my friend Jill who helped me with some gross research for this chapter as well!
> 
> Thank you and i hope you like it!

The soft sound of the sea and the moonlight illuminating the ship made Mako feel at peace. It would be a lovely sight, a lovely night if it wasn’t for his current predicament. 

They were close to their destination, Widow’s Peak. Mako hadn’t actually ever been there, but knew that it was one of Ophelia’s nests. With any luck, she would be holed up in there.  
Though he doubted it. That would be just _way_ too easy, wouldn’t it? And so far Mako hadn’t had the best of luck.

He sighed, hands behind the wheel. The wind was in their favor, the cold breeze feeling good in his bare skin.  
Mako looked back and saw Jamison curled up next to the mast, fast asleep. Mako stared at him for a few seconds, then back at the sea.   
He didn’t want to think on anything that wasn’t capturing Ophelia and delivering her back to Captain Daniels. He couldn’t afford to waste time on anything else with his crew on the line. He refused to let himself get distracted. 

Several minutes later, Mako finally saw land. It was a rocky island, a massive, moss-covered mountain of stone protruding from the sea and into the stars.  
Mako went around the island a bit, searching for any beach at which he could disembark. The island seemed to be more rock than actual grass and trees, but he knew it was one of Ophelia’s nests.   
There was enough ground for him to actually search the island on foot. After spotting a rocky beach, he approached it silently as the wind blew. His small ship reached the beach, making a soft sound as the bottom touched the pebbles below. 

Having finally arrived, Mako stretched while yawning. Her hiding place would probably be in a cave, so all he had to do was search for those and he would be set. As he hopped off the boat, ready to go, Jamison stirred awake, stretching and jumping off the boat to the beach as well.

“It’s here?” he asked, popping his shoulders and cracking his neck. 

“Mmm,” Mako hummed. 

“Ain’t too big, eh? Should be easy.”

“It is never easy,” Mako reminded him. He wished it was, but so far the things that seemed to be “easy” were pains in the fucking ass. He wouldn’t let himself be surprised anymore. “Come on, let’s go.”

Crickets chirped as they made their way across the small island. Even if Widow’s Peak’s most prominent features were the rocky mountains, there was enough of a forest to search through. Mako was willing to bet that Ophelia’s cave would be at the mountainside, so he decided to go there first.

“Ugh,” Jamison said from behind him. Mako ignored him, but Jamison just kept making weird sounds, almost dry heaving at one point. Did he really get that tired? They had just started walking.

“Fuck- mate, can’t ya smell that?” 

Mako blinked. He was still wearing his mask, so he didn’t know what Jamison was talking about. Maybe it was like Ophelia’s smell. Her cave smelt of putrid weeds. He dug in one of his pockets and passed a jar of ointment to Jamison.   
Jamison immediately grabbed it and shoved his fingers inside to smear it under his nose. He kept dry heaving and panting desperately, shoving as much ointment he could onto his upper lip. “It ain’t helpin’!”  
Some of the smell started to seep into Mako’s mask. It smelt like nothing he could ever describe. Curious, he turned around, back facing Jamison, and lifted his mask a little.

It hit him like a bag full of bricks. It made him gag and almost throw up, his eyes watering. His body told him to move, but he refused. He shoved his mask down once again, but the smell remained there. It had impregnated the inside of his mask in the five seconds he took it off. 

Corpses. It stank of rotten corpses left to decompose under the sun. It wasn’t the smell of recent death; this one had fermented and it clung to his being like poisonous needles. 

“Fuck,” Mako whispered as his mind clouded. He felt physically ill and Jamison was on the verge of keeling over. “Come on, we need to find the cave.”

“Fuck, it fucking stinks! It fucking- what is it?”

“Corpses. Long rotten. We need to get out of here.” 

He didn’t want to know why the island was full of dead bodies, or why he hadn’t seen one yet. That was luck, however. To be honest, he didn’t want to see a bunch of rotten corpses. 

God, it fucking stank. It was the worst thing he had ever smelled. He could feel it clinging to his clothes and skin. As soon as he was off of this island he was going to dunk his entire body into the ocean. Maybe he would have to throw away his clothes or something.   
Jamison seemed to be struggling as well. He kept lagging behind, breathing heavily and shaking. He hunched as he walked, arms wrapped around his torso.

It took them several minutes to actually find a cave and Jamison couldn’t even stand at that point. He fell forward, propping himself up on a tree as he puked his guts out. Mako watched as he threw up, retching and twitching and taking several breaths of the pungent air. 

“I’m- I’m okay, I’m okay,” Jamison was barely able to stand up, wiping the vomit off his lips as he walked towards Mako.

“Maybe you should stay outside.”

“No way, it fuckin’ reeks out ‘ere. I’m comin’ with.”

Granted, chill air came out from the cave, and it felt clean. By the way Jamison just shoved his head in and took a deep breath, the feeling appeared accurate. Mako very gently lifted his mask, enjoying the clean unscented air. 

He shoved his mask down and made his way inside.

The deeper they went inside, the darker it got. Mako realized he didn’t have any kind of lantern and was about to start cursing himself when a small yellow light bloomed from where Jamison was standing.  
The young man was holding a match on his hand, bending to the floor to pick up a piece of wood. He lit it, successfully making a torch. When he caught Mako staring, he gave him a toothy grin. Mako didn’t say a thing, instead choosing to venture further into the cave.

The air grew cooler the further they went. Mako didn’t think Ophelia would be in the cave, but if it gave them hints or any idea of where she could be then it was worth it. They both kept descending for a while until Jamison pointed a mechanical finger towards the ground.

“Hey, what’s that?”

Mako looked down, spotting dried flower petals on the floor. Weird.

As they descended, more and more dried flower petals littered the ground until they reached the end of the cave. Jamison waved the torch to look around and whistled.

“Whoa, what happened ‘ere?”

There was furniture and books inside of the cave. Tables, flowers, even clothes, but everything was shredded and destroyed. The book pages had been ripped apart and thrown around the room, the vases slammed until they were nothing but dust, flowers that Mako assumed had been used to decorate dried and torn. It was a mess; even a small couch that was in one corner had been flipped over and the cushions ripped open.

“Someone lived ‘ere! Ya think it was the witch?”

“Yes.” After all, who else would live on a desolate island in the middle of the sea? It had to be her.

“It looks like this was done long ago. Look, stuff in the floor is growin’ moss and crap.”

Jamison was right. It seemed that the cave had been damaged and abandoned years ago. Ophelia must have done that herself, destroyed everything and then left. Mako couldn’t fathom why she decided to do so, but he didn’t really care.  
The ripped pieces of a painting laid on the wet ground. Mako picked one of the shreds, but it was way too wet; it was unrecognizable, completely destroyed. 

“Check the books,” Mako commanded. “Try to make out anything important.”

“Okay…” Jamison sounded strange, but he was probably still affected by the smell of rotten flesh. He couldn’t blame him; Mako was very close to retching. Thank God that the cave didn’t stink of garbage.

Mako himself tried to examine the few belongings that Ophelia had in the cave. Everything was broken, ripped and shredded. Nothing was salvageable. He tried to pick the books that were on the floor, but the humidity and water had destroyed the few ones that weren’t torn apart. 

They spent about half hour before giving up, deciding that there was nothing they could use in there. Ophelia hadn’t stepped into that nest for years, if not decades.

“No use, huh?” 

Mako grumbled, picking one last book with a partially intact cover. He gave it a wipe, barely able to make out what it said. The words were handwritten with ink and it was honestly a miracle they hadn’t been smudged by the water. Only one word remained that Mako could recognize.

_Soothsayer_

Mako opened the book, but the pages were rotten and the ink had been scrubbed off long ago. It was no use.  
He just threw it to the ground and shook his head.

“Let’s go.”

Jamison nodded, silently following Mako as they started their ascent. Mako didn’t want to say that had been a waste of time, but deep in his heart he knew it had. Oh, well. One less place to search. He knew it wouldn’t be that easy to find Ophelia.   
As they started to exit the cave, the stench of rotten flesh reached them once again and Jamison nearly gagged. Mako was able to keep calm, his mask thankfully managing to filter most of it. He felt bad for Jamison, who had nothing to dampen the smell.   
The way the skinny man limped and covered his mouth and made noise made him feel guilty. The Jester had to stop every now and then to not crash to the ground, his small frame shaking. 

Mako sighed and started to undo the bandana at the top of his shark mask.

“Here,” Mako whispered as he handed him the bandana. Jamison just stared at the cloth and then at Mako, knotting his eyebrows in slight confusion. The Captain sighed deeply and pointed at Jamison’s mouth. “Cover your mouth and nose with this. Could help a bit.”

“Oh!” Jamison grabbed it immediately and wrapped it around his mouth and nose. It was a small filter, but at least it was something. “Thank ya, Captain.”

Mako made a small sound as he kept walking into the woods. He didn’t need his thanks, he just didn’t want the Jester to puke his gold out.

 

The Captain was already trying to figure out where they needed to go next. The closest nest was in Deadman’s Bay. If they sailed without stopping they would reach it in the morning, so there was absolutely no time to lose. He wasn’t in the mood for chasing some bitch through the ocean.  
He heard small rustling sounds, but just assumed it was the Jester. They moved slowly, the stench clinging to them and making them sluggish. He just wanted to get off that rotten beach.

“Uhh,” he heard some moaning from behind him. Surely the Jester was still feeling ill. 

“Uh….uh…” he heard more moaning, but didn’t pay attention. Sucked for Jamison, but they needed to keep going.

“Um, hey, Mako?” Jamison said, his voice small and worried.

“What.”

“Don’t ya think it’s weird that this entire place smells like death, but we haven’t seen a single corpse?”

It… was weird, yes. But Mako hadn’t dwelt on it.

“Lets just go.”

“Mako,” Jamison said, getting closer. He still held the torch he had made in the cave, illuminating them in the middle of the dark forest. “Ya… ya weren’t the one that moaned few minutes ago, roight?”

“What?” He was confused. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“It-” Jamison’s voice choked up. “It wasn’t me.”

Mako felt a chill run down his spin as he heard shuffling around them. The smell of death crept closer and closer, as if it was traveling, as if it had _spotted_ them. Jamison inched himself close to Mako, his hands shaking. 

“We need to go,” Mako urged Jamison as he shoved him to get his legs moving. “We need to-”

Something from the tree above him fell, crashing into the ground with a wet noise. Mako managed to avoid screaming, while Jamison almost shat himself.   
He grabbed the torch from Jamison to let him see what had fallen. It was… it had _been_ a human at one point. Now it was just a corpse, rotten flesh exposed against the light of Mako’s torch. Maggots were festering on the skin, making holes in the meat as flies popped out of it. The body had been so rotten that when it crashed against the ground it had burst, blood and pus pooling under it.

The stench was awful. Jamison bent over and threw up while Mako swallowed his. He could see the ribs poking through the skin as the flies that had been feasting on the flesh flew away.

“Fuck,” Mako said as the flies tried to crash against the lenses of his mask. “Fucking stinks.”

“Oh God,” Jamison wailed, still dry heaving. 

Mako stared at it, trying to figure out just for how long the man had been dead. The clothes had rotted away, full of holes and dried blood. He wondered if he had been a pirate that had managed to get lost there and was never rescued. Whatever; he was dead.

“Come on Jamison, we need to-”

A terrifyingly strong grip grabbed Mako’s leg, boney putrid fingers wrapping around what they could. It didn’t quite reach around, but he felt the long nails digging at his pants and attempting to tear at his skin. Looking down, he saw the dead man wailing, eyes full of flies and maggots as he stared up at Mako, decaying mouth opening to spit blood pus and something more, screaming as it tried to lunge at the captain.  
Jamison screamed in terror as the corpse struck, but its innards were destroyed and, as it jumped, its torso separated from its pelvis, a trail of ribs and intestines spilling into the ground as it writhed and kept trying to attack Mako. In one move, Mako put his boot on top of its head and stomped on it. The head and bones were soft and they exploded under his sole, effectively killing it.

The Undead. A fate worse than death, even worse than Davey Jones hunting you. Even worse than Captain Daniels in your trail. A mockery of life, a morbid attempt to bring back flesh that is dead to life.   
He had heard tell of it as disgusting and morbid, something awful. Something that should be feared. A curse. Be a monster, and you will become this. Your body will be used against your wishes to be nothing but a puppet to another monster.

Mako hadn’t felt this revulsion and horror in a long, long time.

“What! What-what-what-what was that?!” Jamison wailed, but Mako didn’t feel like explaining at the moment. He grabbed him by his flesh arm and dragged him, running as fast as he could towards the beach.

There was a rumor that “no Undead is alone”. He would not find out if this was true. 

He kept the torch with him; he knew running blind in a forest among Undead was a terrible idea. He didn’t know where he was running towards, but he needed to get to the beach as soon as possible. They needed to get _out_.  
He felt something tug at Jamison and the Jester started to scream bloody murder.

“Mako!” the Jester screamed. When Mako turned around, he saw that Jamison was being dragged by rotting hands, gripping at him and trying to rip him free of Mako’s hold. They were tugging at his mechanical hand and skinny calf, dead claws trying to take him away. Mako tugged at Jamison _hard_ but they didn’t give up.

One of them pressed its rotten face at Jamison, opening its mouth as thick blood fell from it and onto Jamison’s clothes.

“ _MAKO_!”

He tugged again, _harder_. It forced them to let go of Jamison and Mako shoved the Jester behind him. He unsheathed his sword and didn’t hesitate to slice their heads off, their dead bodies twitching as they fell to the ground, still alive but unable to move. He didn’t bother to see if they were truly dead as he grabbed Jamison and ran again.  
This time he heard them clearly. They were running towards them like wild animals looking for their prey. They made terrifying wet sounds as they ran like beasts through the woods, spitting and vomiting their own guts. 

One of them launched itself from the trees, landing on top of Mako and locking its arms around his neck. Mako felt its disgusting skin touch his, the terrible stench seep into his mask as he tried to dislodge it. Mako managed to grab it by the scruff and throw it aside, not witnessing the moment it exploded into a pile of steaming organs. 

Another one dropped from the trees in front of him, landing on its feet unlike the first one they encountered. It surprised Mako, who shoved it aside, but the moment he touched the Undead its torso burst. Organs spilled onto the ground and the splattered all over Mako’s body as the creature continued attempting to grab him. More and more chased after them, hissing and wailing.

“The fire! Mako, they’re attracted to the light!” Jamison screamed as his poor legs struggled to keep up with the Captain’s speed. “Throw it! Let go of it!”

Mako really did not like the idea of throwing out their only light source. Trekking through the forest in the dark when a bunch of Undead were behind you just sounded like a terrible way to die. 

“Watch out!”

Case in point; if it hadn’t been for the torch, he wouldn’t have seen the stone wall they ran up to. He grit his teeth and once more shoved Jamison behind him, shielding him with his body as he prepared to fight. If he had to kill his way out of this island then fine, so be it.  
Mako gave the torch to Jamison, who was too shocked to do anything about it, and got ready. They lunged at him, their rotten flesh falling to the ground in chunks, hollering horrible sounds as they leaped forward to tear him apart. Mako swung his sword, cutting them to pieces and ripping them to shreds. Their organs burst and fell into the ground alongside them, alive but unable to stand up no matter how much they tried.

One jumped at his face, its decaying head pressed against Mako’s mask and trying to bite his flesh off, not realizing his mask was not Mako’s face. He could see it from up close. It had no eyes, the sockets replaced by flies and beetles popping out of the skin and falling onto his mask. Pus dripped off its flesh and maggots crawled out of its gums as it opened its mouth in an attempt to bite. Mako grabbed its jaw and cracked it open, hurling the thing aside as blood poured from its orifices.   
Mako used both his sword and fists to take them out, but there were far too many. Some of them had swords and other weapons embedded in their bodies and Mako felt his stomach go cold when he saw how they pulled them free and ran at him.

Oh fuck.

More and more piled up, attacking him with swords, hammers and other weapons. They were easy to destroy, yes, but there were far too many of them. Mako started to get exhausted and nervous, the horrible smell weakening him and making it far more difficult than it should have been. The way they exploded, liquid flowing out of their gashes as maggots and flies popped out of their skin, made it far more traumatizing than killing normal people.   
He felt one tug back at his head and bring him down. Mako tried to get it off, but more grabbed his arms and held him in place. Mako attempted to swing his weapon but, even if their flesh was rotten and easy to snap, they were terrifyingly strong and many of them were holding him down. He couldn’t move and he felt his guts stir in fear.

The ones holding weapons moved towards Mako, ready to slice him open, to open his belly up for all his guts to spill on the floor.   
The torch flew from behind him towards the armed Undead. They burst into flames, their decayed flesh falling as they easily burned to the ground. The horrible stench reached Mako’s filters and the ones holding him hesitated when they saw the fire. Mako used the opportunity to rip free from their hold, taking with him a couple of arms and hands. 

He saw Jamison grab a club from one of the corpses’ hands, trying to help by swinging it around in a panic. He struck at their heads, ripping them from their bodies. Mako continued to slaughter them as the fire started to spread, their bodies burning down to nothing.

“Mako, the fire is spreading, we need to go!” Jamison screamed. Mako agreed; they had to go now before the ring of fire closed in on them and prevented them from leaving. 

After killing the one in front of him, he turned around to see Jamison barely holding his ground. The Jester’s eyes went wide as he saw something behind Mako and threw his weapon at it.

Mako turned to see that he had hit one of the Undead at his side, an axe in hand ready to strike Mako. From the corner of his eye, he saw one with a club hit Jamison in the head.  
The Jester went down like a log and the Undead was already dragging him towards the darkness. Mako quickly grabbed it and tore it apart with his bare hands, throwing its detached limbs to the fire.

More were coming but they screamed at the fire, staring at it and hissing. Jamison had been right; the fire was what attracted them. They would get dangerously close to it until their bodies burst into flames.

They didn’t seem to pay attention to Mako and Jamison anymore; the fire had gotten so big that it was their new attraction. Mako didn’t care. Let them burn. He quickly scooped Jamison up and bolted out of there as the fire started to spread at a very dangerous speed.

Running through the dark forest without light was terrifying enough on its own, but he could hear and feel the fire coming towards them. It seemed that the dead bodies made good fuel for it. Mako felt his heart in his throat as he ran and ran, gripping Jamison close to him as he tried to get away from it all.

Somehow, he made it. Mako finally reached the beach, his eyes darting quickly to the small boat. He basically slammed into it to get it to dislodge itself. It started to slowly sail and Mako had to move fast.  
Shifting Jamison’s weight onto one arm, he used the other to climb the small ladder on the boat’s side. He basically leapt upwards, arriving to the deck in mere seconds. He carefully deposited Jamison onto the floor before he ran to set sail and get the fuck out of there. 

It all happened in a matter of seconds, but Mako felt like it had been hours by the time he set the sails and the ship started to advance to an actual decent speed. He was panting at this point, running towards the edge to look at Widow’s Peak one more time.

The fire reached for the stars. The stench was so strong Mako could smell it from where he was. A few of the Undead reached the beach, in flames and already literally falling apart as they dissolved into the fire. Mako could hear their screams as he and Jamison got away. 

It was then that he almost collapsed, panting into his mask. He lifted it and could smell both himself and Jamison, which made him puke. He had to reach over the side of the boat to vomit into the ocean, spitting all of his stomach’s contents. 

He felt cold sweat travel down his face as what he had seen crashed down on him. His body was covered in crusted blood, flies already trying to land on him, some maggots wriggling on his skin and in the hair of his arms.

Jamison woke, throwing up as well, He crawled to the edge and continued to vomit and Mako didn’t care at this point if he threw up his gold or not. He was far too traumatized by what had just happened.  
Both of them hung on the edge of the boat for a while as it sailed slowly, regaining their breath. They stank of death, literally. Mako felt like his entire body was about to give up on him, but he didn’t have the luxury of resting.

“Fuck,” Jamison whispered as he rubbed his face. His makeup was ruined once again, gore mixing with the white. “W-what was that?!”

“Undead,” Mako whispered, lowering his mask. He noticed once again that Jamison didn’t even try to take a peek. “Corpses brought back to life. Like that.”

“Oh, God.” He threw up again. “Oh, fuck…”

“...We need to move,” Mako said tiredly as he went over to inspect the map. Jamison remained in place, curling up on the floor and pressing his back against the cool deck. 

“Where to, Captain?” Jamison said, taking huge deep breaths. He was sweating. He would probably have a fever later. 

“Deadman’s Bay.”


	17. Selenite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamison would be the death of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After Widow's peak
> 
> Hello!! How you doing?? I hope y'all doing great. This is a brand new chapter! it is a bit short, but I hope y'all like it hehe. I had a lot of fun writing it!!
> 
> Shot out to my gf Trish who was my beta! love you bby
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you guys like it !

The sun rose as they got away from Widow’s Peak. They finally stopped vomiting, even though the stench remained attached to their bodies. Mako just wanted to jump into the ocean and get rid of the smell, but that probably wouldn’t be enough. He was willing to just rub wax or even fucking garbage all over his body if it meant keeping the smell of rotten corpses away. It clung to them like a parasite, refusing to leave, and every time that Mako thought that maybe he had gotten used to the smell he felt a new wave of nausea hit.

The boat moved slowly because of their current condition. The map lay in front of him, but he couldn’t focus on it at all. He only stared at the figures as exhaustion and nausea hit him, leaving him on the verge of passing out. He grabbed at his head with both hands and cursed. They had to move _now_ , and he couldn’t afford to waste time being sick because of the horrible smell.

Hell, even their fucking clothes were drenched with pus and blood. Mako was very, very close to just taking his clothes off and navigating in the nude, but he was pretty sure the smell would still cling to him. 

“Ugh,” Mako groaned as he realized just how miserable his life was.

He heard a crash from the inside of the kitchen. Mako hadn’t even noticed that Jamison had entered there. He figured the young man was probably hungry (with this stench?), but when he heard pots and pans falling, he decided to investigate.

As soon as he entered the room he saw Jamison with a lot of bottles on his arms. Jamison placed them on the counter next to a huge pot half-full of water. When the Jester realized that he was being watched, he smiled. He had been sweating and there was a little bit of vomit on his chin. 

“Hey, was about to call ye,” he chuckled as he pointed at the pot. “Figured we could try to get rid of the smell on our clothes.”

Mako got closer and noticed what the bottles were: oils, strong spices, extracts and the like used to cook. Things that gave a strong smell. Jamison grabbed the bottles, opening them and dumping them in the pot like he was going to make a strange soup along with almost every smelly spice he could find. Mako saw not only food, but also a couple of perfumes being poured. Jamison must have looked everywhere on the ship. 

After Jamison finished pouring everything into the pot along with the water, he lit the fire to get the water to boil. Jamison took off his clothes as the water started to heat up and dumped them quickly on the floor before transferring them to the pot. 

Mako had to admit he was a little shocked to see Jamison just get naked like that, but it made sense. His exhausted brain followed suit, taking off every single piece of clothing (besides his mask, of course) and dumping it into the pot. His clothes were massive, but the pot was huge as well. They fit comfortably, pieces of cinnamon sticks and some leaves floating in the pot as the water continued to heat up. 

“Hopefully that will get rid of tha’ fuckin’ stink,” Jamison sighed. He grabbed some bottles that he hadn’t used, throwing one at Mako. The Captain managed to catch it without breaking it and read the label. 

It was some French thing, and Mako couldn’t recognize what it said. He barely knew French, but he could tell by the look of it that it was some expensive oil, the kind rich ladies use to relax.   
Jamison had a similar bottle in his hands. He opened it and started to rub the lotion on his fingers and over his body. It mixed with his makeup, but he didn’t seem to care at this point. 

“Found a bunch of fancy oils. Don’t think they’ll mind if we use ‘em!” He laughed, but it was a tired, sick laugh. It seemed that the smell had gotten to him, too. 

Mako groaned and opened the offered bottle. He shoved the opening under his mask; it smelled wonderful, smelled of oranges and roses. First things first, Mako dipped his fingers in the oil, shoved them under his mask, and slathered the inside of it. That helped mask the smell.

Once he had dealt with the inside of his mask, he proceeded to rub the oil onto the rest of his body. It was thick and felt strange on his skin, but if it got rid of the smell, then so be it. 

His body was huge, so it took a lot of oil to cover it. Mako looked up to see Jamison covering himself as well, spreading it along his naked body. His skin was shiny from the oils, skinny body bright under the light of the fire. The fire framed him nicely, shadowing his muscles and the dips of his bones.   
The Jester stood there normally, oiling himself up. His dick hung limp between his legs, entire body completely waxed. _A royal thing_ , Mako thought. He hadn’t noticed it that much before, how bare Jamison always was. How exposed he looked compared to Mako.

He felt himself go stiff at the sight, the way Jamison sighed as he ran his oiled-up fingers through his hair. Some of the paint on it coated his fingers, his spine arching as he stretched his back, content with the new smell. 

There were a lot of things Mako wanted to tell him.  
He wanted to thank Jamison. He had helped Mako- hell, he had _saved_ him from the Undead even after Mako had ignored his warnings. Mako wanted to tell him that, wanted to thank him for what he did and for what he had done for him so far. Mako never thought about boiling the clothes in perfume- if he had been alone, he would still be wallowing, miserable.

But Mako was not weak. He was a pirate, a pirate _Captain_. He could not afford to develop feelings for anyone, least of all a Jester.  
There were so many things boiling in his belly. It was something more than just the fucking. It was something more than just imagining him wrapped around the man and pounding him until Jamison couldn’t walk. It was wanting him close, wanting him there with him always.   
It was having someone.

Mako rumbled deep, and Jamison noticed. The young man’s eyes jumped to Mako’s cock and he chuckled a little. “Oils make ya feel good, eh?”

Yeah, they did.  
Mako opened his mouth to say something. He wanted to tell him, to thank him for everything. 

He was Mako Rutledge. One of the most feared pirates in the world.  
He did not need weaknesses. To have someone… it was unthinkable. A burden for a man like him. He did not need that. He could get by with sex and alcohol. Nothing would tie him down.

And yet.

He approached the Jester slowly, his hand curling around his hip. Jamison looked up in surprise, his face shiny with oil. He looked slightly pink, his face red from the contact. As if he was expecting Mako to say something.

Mako couldn’t bear to look at him in the face.   
Hell, he couldn’t bear just how close they were, how intimate it felt to touch him so gently. 

It was too much.

He turned Jamison roughly, shoving him onto the surface of one of the tables. It was a rough movement, making the Jester gasp in surprise. He giggled immediately, breathlessly.   
Mako wanted to ask him if he was fine, but he would not. That’s not what a _pirate_ did. He was not there for Jamison’s pleasure, but his and his alone. He should not care about making the Jester feel good; he could only care about what felt good for _him_.

He gripped the Jester’s thighs tightly, thumb pressing inside of his hole. Jamison gasped against it and it burnt Mako. The Jester was looking at him, his cheek pressed against the table. His eyes looked at him with a mixture of lust and… something more. Interest? Love? It was the reason Jamison hadn’t stabbed him in the back, the reason he kept saving Mako and helping him even though he had no obligation. Something soft and warm.  
Mako couldn’t take it- it was too much. He covered his face with a massive palm, blocking him from sight. Better.

Slipping his fingers inside of Jamison was easy due to the oil and he made sure he was open enough. The smell of the perfumes were leaking through his mask, lighting something in his belly. Mako lined himself up with Jamison, heartbeat in his ears along with the sound of the water boiling. Mako pushed forward and felt Jamison tense and moan.

Fuck, even listening to his sounds was too much for Mako. He shoved his thumb inside of Jamison, gagging him and preventing him from saying a thing. He couldn’t take any kind of reassurance that the man was feeling pleasure. This was supposed to be for _him_ , for Mako- not for anyone else. 

That’s what a pirate did.

He pushed at a brisk pace, pressing himself against the Jester and pinning him to the table with his stomach. He opened Jamison’s legs farther with his free hand and felt something hot coiling in his stomach. He kept going, closing his eyes and just crushing Jamison against the table. It was powerful, violent. The tightness around him just barely made him forget about those soft things he felt and wanted to do; the way Jamison clenched around him made his mind foggy. 

He felt Jamison tense under him and, by the way he clenched tight against Mako, he figured the young man had come from being fucked alone.   
Mako rumbled. Jamison was surely oversensitive and he would have pulled out and finished outside of him.   
But Mako did not _care_ about his wellbeing. He didn’t care if Jamison was oversensitive or not. This was for _him_ and him only. Property of Mako Rutledge. 

So he kept going. The way Jamison wriggled and twitched under him told him he could barely take it. He kept crushing him against the table, drawing it out as long as he could to prove that he did not care about idiotic things like intimacy, ridiculous notions that he could have something other than just a fuckbuddy. That was not him. He was a monster, feared by many, and he was going to act like one. 

With a shout, he finally came deep inside Jamison as he gritted his teeth. He wished he could desire violent things, but instead he could only think about holding him loosely, kissing his neck and apologize for what he did.

But he didn’t. He instead pulled out of Jamison, spunk leaving a trail from the Jester’s hole to his inner thigh. Jamison gasped on the table, a wreck panting for air and lying in his own cum. He opened his eyes to stare at Mako and it felt too intimate.

So Mako turned and left. 

The ocean breeze made him feel chill, his body wet from the oils. It didn’t stink like corpse anymore, but it felt like something stuck on him. Something different. Something that just wasn’t going to leave easily.   
His mind was clearer now that he didn’t have to worry about the smell, but he couldn’t focus as he stared at the map to set course to the next island. It prickled him, poisoning from the inside, and he wished he could pick it up and throw it away.

He heard footsteps coming from the kitchen and saw Jamison, clean from the cum but still shiny from the oils. He smiled at Mako like he hadn't just fucked him violently onto a table. Fully naked, he looked over the deck and stared into the ocean, painted hair waving in the air like he hadn’t done things to Mako as well.

The Captain sighed, focusing on where to go as he started to realize how deep he now was in this stupid game.

He felt it deep inside. Jamison would be the death of him.


	18. Labradorite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they didn’t stink of rotting corpses, the trip to Deadman’s Bay wasn’t completely miserable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next goal, Deadman's Bay.
> 
> Hello!!! How's it going?? I hope y'all are having a really good week. Here is another chapter! I personally had a lot of fun writing this one. After this, stuff that i am excited for will happen and im super hype for it wink wink ;))))
> 
> Shot out to my girl trish for being the beta!! thank u love!
> 
> I hope y'all like it! thank you for reading!!

Now that they didn’t stink of rotting corpses, the trip to Deadman’s Bay wasn’t completely miserable. The small island wasn’t too far away from Widow’s Peak and it was smaller than the previous island they’d been on. 

He hadn’t talked with Jamison ever since he’d fucked him, and that’s how Mako wanted it. He felt that anything he told the young man would only twist into something else in his mind. Once again, Mako assured himself he didn’t have any time to waste. His crew came first. 

“How long?” Jamison stood next to Mako, one hand on his hip and the other holding an apple, which he lazily took bites out of. 

“Not too long,” Mako answered quietly. Jamison hummed, the sound of his teeth crunching on the apple filling the silence. 

“...Hm,” Mako groaned as he saw the weak outline of the island, but fog didn’t permit him to see further. It was thick and Mako regretted that he would have to go through it. 

_Onwards_ , he mused to himself as he steered the ship. As long as he kept the direction straight, he wouldn’t have much issue arriving at the small island’s beach. 

“Huh,” Jamison whistled. “Ya think we gonna find somethin’ weird like those corpses?”

God, hopefully not. That was already too much stress and bad juju for Mako’s entire life. 

“Ya think tha’ witch did that? Reanimate those corpses?”

“Mm, yes. Fucking freaks.”

Jamison laughed at the comment. He finished his apple and threw the core overboard, which splashed softly into the water. Mako heard the man’s bones pop and crack loudly as he stretched, but kept his eyes ahead even if he couldn’t see a thing.   
He heard something splash out of the ocean and land softly on the deck softly. At first he thought it was just a random fish that had decided to plop onto the ship, but Jamison made a confused sound that caught Mako’s attention.

“What the…?”

The apple core laid at the Jester’s feet, wet and making a small puddle underneath it.

That’s… weird. Definitely weird. Didn’t Jamison just threw it overboard?

More splashing arose from below and Jamison made his way to inspect the noise. He poked his head out, staring silently at the water. Mako made his way as well, but he couldn’t see anything apart from the occasional wave.

“I think I saw a fish?” Jamison said as he leaned even more, inspecting the water more closely. 

A weird sound rang from the other side and Jamison very quickly ran towards it, but Mako just sighed tiredly. 

“It’s a fish, let it be,” he said as he returned to steer the boat while Jamison gawked at the fishes. 

A few minutes passed while the water continued to slosh around. He ignored it, but the sound kept getting stronger and stronger. Maybe they were just going over a school of fish? 

“Whoa!” Jamison screamed and it made Mako turn around. The Jester was just smiling and staring at the water, pointing excitedly like he was a child. “I think I saw a shark!”

Mako rolled his eyes very hard. He turned back to the wheel and froze.

A young woman was hanging from the deck, her arms holding her upright as she stared at him. Her pale blue eyes were almost glowing and freckles dusted her pale skin, while her soaking-wet curly hair stuck to her forehead.

“Hello.” She smiled at Mako, showing her pearly teeth. Her lips where thin and pink. 

“Uh,” Jamison had seen her too, slowly approaching Mako’s side as the girl pressed her cheek against the floor of the deck.

“Can you help me? I fell off my boat and I was abandoned.” Her skin glowed, even if there was not much light. “Please. I’ll drown if you don’t.”

She smiled as if she expected something out of them, but Mako knew this trick. Oh, he knew this trick alright. He had expected this to happen at some point and he was extremely lucky his crew wasn’t with him. Otherwise, things would have gotten extremely difficult. Jamison just looked extremely confused, but didn’t seem to be falling for the obvious ploy.

“Please help me. I can make you happy. I can make you both really, really happy.” Her smile widened and Mako just laughed. 

He slowly approached the young woman and she smiled happy, thinking he had fallen for her trick. He grabbed her arm and violently yanked her into the air. She yelped, having miscalculated just how strong he was.  
From head to bellybutton she was a normal woman, skinny and beautiful with attractively small and perky breasts. Her pelvis was covered in scales and, instead of legs, she had a powerful emerald fishtail that glistened outside of the water. 

Jamison gasped in surprise at the sight. Mako pointed at the woman, poking her harshly on the fishtail.

“Mermaid,” he said. He let go of her hand and, just before she crashed into the floor, Mako grabbed her by the tail, lifting her so she would wriggle upside down like a caught fish. “Lure people with their charms, brainwash them, and then drown and eat them.” 

“I didn’t feel charmed at all?” Jamison frowned as he stared at the struggling mermaid. 

“Me neither,” Mako laughed as he lifted the mermaid so her face was level with his. Her face twisted into anger and confusion, not understanding why she couldn’t lure them. “Your plan has a little flaw, freak.”

The mermaid squinted her eyes, confused.

“We fuck men.”

The mermaid’s eyes went wide, but Mako didn’t let her say a thing. He swung her in circles a couple times before letting go at the top of the arc. She hollered as she was thrown far into the ocean until her cries couldn’t be heard and Mako saw only a tiny speck that splashed on the water. 

“Hehe,” he snorted as he turned to keep steering the ship. Jamison stood there gawking, incredulous at what had happened.

“So she couldn’t lure us ‘cus we like blokes?” 

“Yes.” Mako rolled his shoulders. It had been easy to just throw the mermaid as far as he could. She hadn’t weighed much. “People that are into women get lured by them. We aren’t, so we weren’t fooled.”

“Finally one good thing for bein’ gay, eh?” Jamison laughed, bouncing on his feet.

What a weird thing to say? Mako didn’t really recall people giving him too much shit for being homosexual. But then again, when people did he would make sure they became shark chum. That’s probably why no one ever told him a thing; not because they didn’t think it, but because they knew better than to fuck with the mountain of a man.  
Maybe the same couldn’t be said for Jamison. 

“Ye are tha’ first bloke that I know to be open about it, Cap’n,” he giggled. “Most people I knew in tha’ castle refused to let anyone know. Just pretended I was lyin’ or somethin.”

Well, now Mako felt like shit. What he did before, taking Jamison so roughly, made him feel even more of an asshole.

He should probably say something.

“Jamison-”

Something slammed into the boat’s side, sending it rocking back and forth. It wasn’t as big a ship as the Sea Hog, so whatever it was shouldn’t have been that big. But the slams kept coming more and more, the water underneath them moving and bubbling. 

“Now what?!” Mako yelled as he ran towards the railing and looked down at the water. Several dark figures quickly moved about. Mako had a bad feeling about it.

Dozens of hands came out of the water to latch onto the side of the ship, pulling up dozens of women with glistening hair and beautiful eyes that stared at Mako with anger. They snarled at him as they started to climb onboard using only their hands, which transformed from delicate maiden hands into boney claws as they crawled up to the deck.

Oh, fuck. 

He heard them creeping up from the other side as well, and Jamison was already cursing and running around. Mako grit his teeth as he grabbed his sword and got ready. They approached the deck and Mako started to hack away. He swung his sword, cutting at their hands and heads, splattering blood over the other mermaids and all over the side of the boat. 

The mermaids started shifting, faces twisting in anger. Their beautiful features started to change, their pale freckled faces scaling over as their eyes got bigger and their teeth grew in rows. Mako kept hacking away but there were far too many. They reached the deck from his side and he remembered how they were crawling from the other side as well.   
When he turned, he saw Jamison struggling with a sword, trying to hack away but unable to. The mermaids spilled onto the ship, screeching in anger. They were slippery and fast even if they weren’t in the water. They lunged at Mako, grabbing at him and digging their fingers into his skin. They bit with their rows of fangs into Mako’s flesh and it stung, blood already starting to pour from his wounds. 

“Get off!” Mako screamed as he physically ripped them from his body, massive fists grabbing three by their skinny necks and crushing them until they snapped. He threw the dead mermaids overboard, but more rose to replace them. 

“Jamison!” Mako screamed, one part of him hoping Jamison could help him and another part hoping he would hide from them. He turned his head around to see Jamison swarmed, the women digging their teeth and nails into him as he screamed on the floor. “Jamison!”

The Jester screamed, rolling on the ground and knocking a barrel over. The barrel had a lit oil lamp on top of it, which crashed to the ground and created a small fire beside him.  
The mermaids immediately screeched and squirmed away from the warmth. As soon as Jamison was free, he bolted to the kitchen, not even looking back at Mako as he slammed the door to protect himself from the mermaids.

Mako didn’t feel bad at all; in fact, he felt relief. Now Jamison would be away from harm. Mako was big and strong; he could take the mermaids.   
And so he did. He grabbed at them and threw them into the ocean, used his sword to stab them in their chests and open them up like the fish they were. They swarmed him and bit at him, ripping off chunks of flesh, but he could take it. He was Mako fucking Rutledge, and he had been bitten by a fucking shark before, part of which he wore as a fucking mask. He could take anything. 

He heard the kitchen door slam open. Mako turned around; Jamison stood at the door. He held a torch and a bottle of alcohol. Blood dripped off him from his bite wounds, but that didn’t stop Jamison from downing the alcohol and bringing the torch up to his lips.  
He breathed fire, just like when they had been cornered by that stupid Pirate Captain. Mako could feel the heat of it on his skin as the mermaids let go of him and screeched. Few were hit with the fire, but the others cried in terror as they jumped off the ship and into the safe waters. It wasn’t long enough before they had all escaped, the corpses of the dead ones littering the ship.

Both of them panted, Jamison still holding both bottle of alcohol and torch. He was red in the face and had bite marks all over him, but they didn’t seem to be as violent as Mako’s. He kicked one of the burnt corpses. “I fucking hate fish.”

Mako was about to laugh until the ship came to a very abrupt halt, crashing against something. They weren’t ready for it, and it knocked Mako over and hurled Jamison overboard as he screamed.  
Mako immediately got up and ran towards what he believed was the sea until he saw what they had crashed against as the fog finally dissipated.

The boat had crashed against a rock cliff. Jamison had been thrown onto it, landing on what seemed to be a small path at the side of the cliff. 

“Are you okay?” Mako yelled at him. Jamison rolled his shoulders, popping them. 

“Yeah! Just had a rough landing, haha!” He winced as he stood up. 

Just as luck would have it, the cave was just a few meters from them. Mako could see it from where he was standing and chuckled deeply as he made his way down to Jamison. 

“There’s the cave.”

“Ah,” Jamison smiled, but he looked obviously tired. When was the last time they slept? The young man seemed to feel the exhaustion.

Mako looked at the cave and then back at a tired Jamison.

“Stay here,” he commanded. Jamison opened his mouth to say something, but just nodded, smiling.

“I’m sorry mate, I’m… I’m pretty tired.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “I’ll keep watch of tha’ ship, okay? Just holler if ya need me.”

Mako nodded, but pointed back at the ship. Jamison smiled and made his way onto the ship once again. Once he was sure that Jamison had made it back aboard, Mako went towards the cave. He had picked up the torch that Jamison left behind, which illuminated his way towards the inside of the cave.   
It smelled of musk inside, but as he kept gong he didn’t see anything too special in it. He quickly reached the bottom, but there was no Ophelia in sight. 

There was a small couch in the middle of the cave, along with expensive jewelry. They looked like romantic gifts; heart-shaped necklaces, rings with expensive diamonds, things that seemed to reek of sentimentality.   
Mako was going to take the jewelry, but it just felt… bad. Like something inside of him felt that just taking it from there was not only morbid but absolutely ruthless. So he left them be.  
He inspected the rest of the nest, but apart from dried flowers there was nothing inside. The dust and the age of most of the jewelry made the place seem like it had been abandoned a very, very long time ago. 

Mako sighed as he made his way to the surface. This was going to take forever, especially if they kept encountering bullshit like the Undead and the mermaids. Mako couldn’t take it, but he had to. There was absolutely nothing else he could do.   
At least he was with Jamison.

A couple of hours had passed since he left the ship. The fog had returned, but Mako could see the ship was surrounded by torches; the mermaids wouldn’t get near.   
Mako didn’t make a noise as he made it to the deck. His body was sore from the bites and he would have to look into them soon, but he just wanted to inform Jamison of the situation before they did anything. He would have to heal Jamison’s wounds as well.

The deck was empty. Mako looked around, but there was no sign of the Jester.

“Jamison?” he called, but no one answered. The door that lead to the captain’s quarters was slightly open. It had been closed before. 

Quietly, Mako made his way towards it, thinking Jamison had gone to explore. His footsteps were as delicate as could be; he enjoyed the silence, but hoped he could find Jamison soon.

“Jamison?” he called quietly as he gently opened the door. A shriek caught in his throat, his grip on the door handle strong as his eyes went wide.

Jamison lay on the bed on the room, sleeping peacefully on his side. His chest rose up and down very gently, sleeping calmly and like a beautiful angel. 

Next to him sat Ophelia, her fingers softly, soothingly caressing his hair. Her eyes were focused on the Jester, but then looked at Mako. She looked exhausted as well.

“Mako,”

“Get away from him.”

She retracted her hand, biting her lip. 

“Mako, I-”

“You are lucky we need you alive. Otherwise, I would have gutted you the second I saw you.”

She closed her eyes and nodded. 

“Mako, I’m…” She looked down at her feet. “I’m tired. I’m tired of all of this. I don’t want to run anymore. I don’t care.”

She stood up to her full height. “Take me to her. I am tired of running away from what I’ve done.”

Honestly, Mako couldn’t give a shit about her. But she was now there in front of him and Mako wasn’t going to let her get away.

She sighed.

“Take me to Captain Daniels.”


	19. Rhodonite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ocean was calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! how y'all doing!! the halloween event dropped and i am d e l i g h t e d the gayest event in OW history. yay!!
> 
> OK i kind of have a small announcement? I normally try to update the fics once per week, but for the past year i've written 34 fanfics in the span of a year. 3 of those fanfics multichaptered. 2 or 3 chapters per week.  
> I am... tired, man. I am super tired, physically and emotionally. I had a week without internet, been having some stress over stuff. My man, i am _tired_. 34 Fics!!! holy nuts, man. 
> 
> ANYWAYS, this doesn't mean i am going to stop updating. No!! i LOVE writing fic, and Its a coping mechanism and ppl like to read them, so i am not stopping. Instead, the deadlines used to kind of lord over my head thinking, you GOTTA write 3 chapters this week!!! you gotta!!! so im gonna get rid of that for a while. Update in my own terms, you know. So, hopefully you guys can understand if i dont upload 7 chapters a week- im kinda tired,q haha. this doesn't mean i will upload every 5 months, nah, it just means that It may not be as consistent and as "timely" as before. Thank y'all for understanding!
> 
> Anyways, hey, new chapter. I am very, very excited for this one, huhu.
> 
> Shot out to my girl Trish who was my beta! ilu bby
> 
> I hope you guys like it! thank you for reading!!

The ocean was calm. 

Mako once heard that it was the Sea Witch that controlled the sea. The days she was mad, the sailors paid for it with their lives. The sea was her playground and she was in total control of it.

He used to believe it, once. But now Ophelia was tied to the mast of the ship, her face covered in shame, and the ocean was calm, letting him sail in peace despite the way her eyes were unfocused and staring at the wooden floor.

“You know I could get out of here whenever I wanted, right?” Ophelia said. Mako looked over his shoulder, but the woman was still there.

“And yet you are here.”

“I won’t escape anymore. That’s the only reason I am still here. It has nothing to do with you.”

“Because of you my entire crew has been kidnapped, so yeah, it has everything to do with me.”

She didn’t say anything to that. Mako accepted it as a small victory and continued ahead.

He wasn’t actually sure where he should try to find Daniels. He was sailing to the point where his ship was taken, hoping that maybe she would be there. If not, he could probably get Ophelia to lure her. Then this fucking nightmare would end and he could get back to his normal pillaging. 

“Hey,”

Mako turned around to see Jamison getting out of the room he had slept in. He stretched; the scratches, bites, bruises, and cuts had already been covered by his white makeup, hiding what had happened earlier. Mako stared at him and then back at Ophelia, who didn’t seem to react.

“Where we goin’ now? Where is tha’ next nest?”

“That will not be necessary anymore.”

He heard Jamison grunt in confusion. He looked over his shoulder to see the young man walk towards him, then turn to see Ophelia tied to the base of the mast. 

“Holy shit!” he screamed. Mako contained a laugh.

“Did ya actually find ‘er?!”

“She found us. Said she is scared of running away or something.”

Jamison stared at her with curiosity, but she didn’t seem to even acknowledge him or anything. He stared up and down, on his face a look that suggested he was thinking about the situation.

“Is she gonna kill ya?”

“Probably,” Ophelia spoke. She didn’t care to look at Jamison, still staring with sad eyes at the floor. 

“Heard ya were the one that cursed her, made ‘er look like that. Is that true?”

Ophelia didn’t say a thing. She silently stared up at Jamison with golden eyes, but she didn’t actually say a thing. In Mako’s mind, her silence was enough of a confirmation. 

“Why did ya do that?”

Ophelia didn’t reply, instead just shrugging as much as she could while tied up as her eyes returned to her feet. Jamison stared at her intently, one arm across his chest and his metallic one touching his cheek. He stared at her for a long while, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t really know if he _should_ say it.

Mako continued sailing, occasionally throwing glances at Jamison and Ophelia. Jamison continued to stare, simply observing and thinking. 

“Ya know, I used to work on the King’s Castle.” Jamison suddenly said. Ophelia didn’t seem to pay much attention to him, silent and unresponsive. Mako continued sailing while paying attention to Jamison’s story. 

“I was just a dumb Jester, but ya know, ya get to know a lot of what happens behind the scenes, so to speak. Ya see noblemen come and go, ha!” The Jester basically sat on the floor in front of Ophelia, his legs crossed and hands on his lap as he stared up at the woman. She stared down at him, an annoyed look on her face.

“Do ya wanna hear me stories?”

“Do I have another option?” she replied with a sigh. This only made Jamison laugh. 

“It’s pretty interestin’ actually. I got to see a lotta nobles fall in love with people they shouldn’t, ya know? Or maybe it wasn’t love and just were horny as fuck. What do I know?” He chuckled. “Anyways, I know how it looks like. I’ve seen it. Heh, I lived it, so to speak.”

This caught Mako’s attention immediately and looked at Jamison, but the Jester didn’t seem to even notice. 

“I think I’m getting a little bit too far from tha’ point. Point is… Can I ask you a question?”

The woman sighed, tired. “Yes.”

“Ya were in love with Captain Anne Daniels, weren’t ya?”

Mako let go of the wheel to turn to them. The woman’s eyes widened and almost glowed, her skin turning into scales as she struggled, eyes focused on the Jester. She opened her mouth, smoke coming out of it, and her hair started to stand. Mako was about to run and get Jamison out of the way of her rage, but Ophelia bit her lip until blood dripped from it, her body returning back to normal though her eyes still glowed.

“Do not be ridiculous. What makes you think such an absurdity?”

“Yer reaction, for one.” He had a shit-eating grin in his face. “Ya say how ye are tired from runnin’ and we found some shit in one of yer caves. I know what bein’ in love looks like, and by how ye act it looks like ye were in love with her, right?”

“I do not have to talk about my romantic life with an idiotic, ignorant clown,” she hissed. “Why don’t you go back to juggling? That is surely the only thing you are good for, you pathetic swine.”

“I think I struck a nerve.”

That made sense, honestly. It made a lot of sense; the jewelry, the flowers, the destroyed and abandoned caves. An evil part of Mako decided to make Ophelia’s miserable for some minutes.

“I don’t think she was in love with her,” Mako added as he stared at the tied woman with his arms crossed. “She did curse her and turn her into a monster. You don’t do that to the people you love unless you’re a piece of shit.”

Jamison smiled as he seemed to catch on to it. “Roight, who would do that? Surely I am wrong.”

Ophelia started to fume, teeth clenching. “You do not know anything about me and my life, or who I used to be. You have no right to judge, pirate. You are no better than me.”

“I don’t go killing those who I apparently love.”

“Who knows? You live in deep denial of your own heart, Mako Rutledge.”

Now it was Mako’s turn to get angry. He was thankful his mask hid his face, otherwise Ophelia would have noticed how tight his jaw was. He instead chuckled. 

“So I guess we are now takin’ Miss Sunshine to tha Captain, eh? Should be fun. Wonder if she is gonna let us watch?”

“Oh, I hope so.”

They both laughed for few seconds, then Jamison started to walk away.

“Gonna find something to eat. Ya want somethin’?”

“Nah,” Mako replied while still chuckling, then went back to sailing. He heard the doors to the kitchen open and close and silence reigned once again, but only for a minute before Ophelia spoke.

“Do not be an idiot. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I am talking about, Mako Rutledge.”

“I sure do.” Mako didn’t pay attention to her, his eyes focused ahead.

“You think you are so strong and that you can take anything. You think that you can stand whatever comes your way, don’t you? You’re going to fuck it up. You are going to fuck it up so bad, Mako.”

“I don’t care.”

“You think so. You fucking think you don’t care but I know you will regret everything the moment something happens to that Jester of yours.”

Mako kept quiet, not dignifying that with an answer.

“I know it. I know that you want to pretend you just fuck him and there is nothing more than that but I know. I know what you truly feel. It’s something I can sense, you know. You reek of it, reek of something more than just wanting sex. You fool yourself, saying you don’t feel anything for him, but we both know that is a lie. But that’s too much, right? Mako Rutledge, falling in love with a young Jester? That can’t be true, right? But you will regret being an idiot. You will regret-”

Mako turned around, his giant palm slightly crushing the velvet bag that contained her heart. 

“You talk a lot for someone who could die with a twitch of my hand.”

She clenched her teeth, growling. To be honest, Mako was bluffing. If he didn’t deliver her alive, then Daniels would kill his entire crew, so he needed Ophelia to be actually whole. Ophelia knew that as well, so Mako had to admit he was slightly surprised she just stopped talking. 

Whatever. 

He put the velvet bag on his side again, where it hung from his belt as he kept the ship moving forward. 

This woman had no right to talk to him about his life. Who the hell was she? What did she know? Ophelia was the one that was in love with Daniels and yet decided to curse her with a terrible, terrible affliction. She had absolutely no fucking leg to stand on. Who the hell did she think she _was_?

“I am not the one cursing him,” he spoke. He heard her hiss, but he just placed his massive hand on the velvet bag and she didn’t say anything more.

“You don’t know us. You don’t know what happened to us.”

“I don’t know, I don’t think I would ever curse someone I loved.”

“Are you telling me you have never killed an ex-lover?”

Mako was pretty proud of the fact that he could truthfully answer with a no. Sure, some relationships ended… badly, but he never killed any of his ex-lovers. Well, maybe he stole stuff from some of them, but killing? Never. But that was when he was younger, before he became the feared Mako Rutledge. Nowadays he didn’t have time for anything but sex.

“Why did you curse her? She didn’t want anything to do with a nasty Sea Witch?”

“Fuck off.”

“I am just asking. But whatever, I can just ask Daniels herself when we get there.”

It shouldn’t have been too long before they reached the spot, but Mako wasn’t done yet. He wanted Ophelia to suffer all of it.

“Maybe she didn’t want your ugly mutant body, so you cursed her to look like you.”

She growled behind him.

“I heard she used to be beautiful, and you fucked her up. All because she didn’t-”

“I loved Anne Daniels! You don’t know anything about us!”

Mako chuckled to himself, feeling victorious that he had been able to get to Ophelia.   
The joy was short-lived when he saw something on the horizon; two ships. But it seemed like there was… _something_ grabbing at them?

He fished for his spyglass, pulling it to its full length. He tried to make out the ships.  
Mako could see from his position that they were the Red Tide and the Sea Hog. The satisfaction he felt from being right quickly disappeared. Something wrapped around the ships, tugging and pulling. Giant dark masses, strong and thick. Like…

“Tentacles?” he said out loud. That is what they looked like; massive tentacles wrapping around the ships and holding them in place. He heard a gasp behind him.

“Oh no.”

Ophelia appeared in the blink of an eye at the bow, leaning over. Mako took a quick glance behind him and saw the ropes in place, like they were originally tied around the mast. So she had been right when she said she could get out of there if she wanted. Huh.

“Oh no, oh no, oh _no_ ,” Ophelia kept repeating to herself as she leaned over, staring ahead at the two ships. Mako had zero idea of what was happening, but he had the feeling that it was some fucking ridiculous bullshit. 

“What’s happening?! What’s happening to my ship?!” he demanded, fear rising in his gut. 

As they approached, Mako saw dark spots around their ship growing bigger and bigger. 

“Fuck,” Ophelia whispered as she stood to her full height. “We need to get to those ships- we need to-”

“What is happening?!” Mako demanded, but Ophelia ignored him. She raised her arms and the sea moved.

The ship moved swiftly forward, the sea beneath them under Ophelia’s command. Her eyes glowed, body tensing as the ship sailed forward at an ungodly speed. He could see the strain on her body.

Mako looked at the sea under them and saw the dark spots approaching at the same speed, growing and starting to rise from the water. They were tentacles like the ones surrounding his and Daniels’ ship. They were fast; no matter how fast the ship moved, the tentacles were catching up as well. 

“Fuck!” Ophelia screamed now, barely able to stand up. She hissed and screamed, but she managed to keep the ship moving forward. She screamed with all her strength, but they were close, so close to the ships. 

They were only few meters away from the Red Tide and the Sea Hog when a tentacle rose in front of their ship. Ophelia gasped, unable to stop the ship from crashing full force against it. More tentacles instantly rose from the water around the ship and slammed it in one move. The ship pretty much exploded from all the abuse. 

Mako was launched from the ship, everything happening in slow motion. He soared through the air, unable to do anything as the debris from the ship erupted. Ophelia was under him, moving her arms wildly, but quickly balanced herself as she flew through the air. Her eyes glowed once again, the sea beneath her rising like a pillar. She stepped on it and, instead of sinking, she _stepped_ on it like it was damn solid. The pillar launched her towards the two ships, which still were being held by tentacles, as she screamed to Mako.

“I’ll take care of the tentacles!”

Cool, he guessed. It wasn’t like he was flying through the air about to crash into the goddamn sea. No big deal.

He braced himself as much as he could, but it still fucking hurt. It felt like crashing against an actual tile floor, and he knew how that felt as well. He felt his body go numb for a few seconds as the coldness of the sea enveloped him. He heard the bubbles as he submerged, his mask letting him see through the water.

Giant tentacles were under him and under the boats, some thick, some smaller and thinner, but all of them seemed to just… be there. There was no octopus head and no kraken attached to them; they simply spilled from the darkness of the ocean and onto the surface.

Mako didn’t know how to react, swimming towards the surface and gasping for air. 

The water was pitch black around the ships, like a halo. The tentacles pulled mostly at the Red Tide, leaving the Sea Hog alone. He saw Ophelia on the Red Tide, screaming and glowing, spikes growing out of her as she screeched and howled.

“It is my fault!” she hollered. “Leave her alone!”

A _voice_ spoke, but it spoke as if it was made of several different voices. It was as if darkness and morbidity itself had a voice, something that drilled through Mako’s ears and dug into his brain. Something that seeped into his bones and chilled him to his core.

 _”We had a deal, she and I”_ it said.

“It is my fault! She has nothing to do with-”

One tentacle slammed her instantly, throwing Ophelia with great force against the ocean like a bullet. She crashed into it and didn’t emerge again.

Mako watched the tentacles grasp the entirety of the ship and pulled it underwater, the ocean swallowing the Red Tide as it creaked and trembled. Mako stared at it with horror as the darkness swallowed it, the tentacles under him swirling.

One of them grabbed his feet and pulled hard.

 _”A debt has to be paid”_ that horrible voice screamed at him.

He was pulled into the darkness with great force, water around him as he felt the thick tentacle wrapping around his leg.

He acted fast, big watermelon-sized hands grabbing the tentacle and digging his fingers to it. Adrenaline rushed through his veins, giving him enough strength and desperation. It wasn’t as thick as the others; Mako was able to tear it apart with all his strength. 

The tentacle bled, but retreated.

 _”Sentimentality is stronger than brute force”_ it hissed, and Mako felt his heart sink to his stomach.

A thicker tentacle pulled at something next to him, dragging it underwater. Mako felt everything slow down as he saw what it was dragging.

It curled around Jamison’s thin body like a snake, moving fast towards the sea floor.

Mako panicked. He felt his heart in his ears as he swam to him. Jamison’s organic hand was free, dragging above him. Somehow, by swimming so fast his arms hurt and his body shook with exhaustion, Mako managed to grab his palm, pulling at him like his fucking life depended on it.

The tentacle pulled harder but Mako just pulled _harder_ , his blood hot and feeling like it would boil. He clenched his teeth as he felt himself starting to drown, but he wouldn’t let that _thing_ take Jamison. He felt the bones in his skinny wrist pop, his shoulder dislocate and pop out of place as Mako kept pulling, his other hand reaching towards the tentacle wrapping around the man.

He rushed it, digging his fingers into it like it was meat. He tore it apart with strength.   
Mako was told than when people were truly desperate they got super strength. Like when a mother protects her child or when someone fights for his life. Mako’s power was already absurd, and now it gave him enough resolve. It made it so he tore the tentacle apart and, after struggling for several seconds, it unwrapped from the Jester for a moment.

Spikes emerged from the tentacle’s surface and dug at Jamison, piercing his skin. But Mako dragged Jamison towards him, away from the tentacle. 

The thing retreated into the sea along with the others as it disappeared into the water.

 _”You will pay for this,”_ hissed the voice once again as it disappeared into the darkness as well.

His skin was burning and his lungs were about to give out. Mako quickly swam towards the surface, body on the verge of giving up. He clenched his teeth as he finally, finally broke the water. He gasped for air, lungs burning with it. His first instinct apart from breathing was to bring Jamison’s face to the surface.

The makeup had been completely washed out along with his hair dye. His pale freckled face was bruised, lips turning blue but not due to makeup. His torso was full of cuts and bites, flesh clammy and paler than normal. He was not moving, his skin bearing red marks where the tentacle had wrapped.

“No,” Mako hissed as he grabbed Jamison close and his eyes jumped wildly to find something, somewhere to land. The Sea Hog was there, mostly unharmed with ropes from the deck spilling into the ocean. “Come on, come on,” Mako said to himself as he swam towards the rope. 

It was anchored to the deck so he climbed it with one arm, the other holding Jamison. His heart was in his throat, his blood feeling heavy and sick. He bit his lip as his lungs still burned, bones aching. His muscles were sore but he felt the need to go on, his body feeling like it was about to give out. 

“Come on,” he pleaded to no one in particular as he finally reached the deck. He didn’t know how much time had passed; his head was buzzing and couldn’t tell time. It didn’t matter. He threw Jamison onto the deck as well. 

With one glance he saw that the deck of his ship was empty. He didn’t care. He looked at Jamison, broken and bruised, water spilling from his nose, ears, and mouth like a fountain, eyes closed. His naked blond hair stuck to his forehead and to the floor of the ship.

“Jamison,” he called, patting his cheek. “Jamison, come on,” he slapped harder.

But Jamison did not move, body naked, natural, only his Jester clothes. He looked far younger without all that makeup, without the dye. It was far too intimate to even _see_ him like this, under all that paint he covered himself with. His mask. It was Jamison’s mask, and Mako was looking at him without it, without his protection.

“Jamison, come on, Jamison-” He wasn’t breathing.

“Fuck-” 

Mako ripped off his mask along with the shark head and threw it to the ground. His naked face felt the chilly air of the sea as he started to pound on Jamison’s chest, placing his thick lips on Jamison’s thin, pink ones and breathing into his mouth.

No reaction.

He pounded his chest more, his face wet from contact with Jamison’s. The young man was still under him, unmoving.

“Come on, Jamison.” He placed his mouth on top of the Jester’s again, blowing air into him, but there was no effect. “Come on.”

He saw Ophelia’s feet in front of him as he continued to try to revive him. She was soaking wet as she stared down at Mako with golden eyes, her words digging deep and pulling Mako apart.

Oh.

“I’m sorry,” he pleaded as he continued to pound his birdcage of a chest. “Fuck, I-”

Ophelia continued to stare down at him. 

“You regret it, don’t you?” she said. Mako felt his blood run cold. “You regret what you did, and what you didn’t.”

She calmly walked away without saying anything else. Mako felt his chest hurt as his hands started to pound harder every time on Jamison.

“Don’t do this to me,” he whispered. “Do not do this to me. Jamison- Do… do not-”

He broke down. He clawed at the floor, nails digging and splintering the wood. He felt bile rise up from his stomach. One more time. One more, one more time.   
He slammed into him as hard as he could, fist almost breaking his ribcage. 

The young man jolted back to life, coughing and vomiting bile and water next to him, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. Mako sobbed, too. Thank God. Thank God.

He grabbed at Jamison tenderly, big hands cradling his head. His thin body shook in his grasp and Mako grabbed him and simply didn’t let go. 

“It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m so sorry. Jamison, I- what are you doing?”

Jamison was covering his eyes, refusing to look at Mako. His shaking hands pressed against his eyes to force himself not to see. 

“Y-y-y-your mask,” he gulped, shaking.

Suddenly, he felt like shit. He wasn’t sure why, but he did. Jamison was recovering from almost dying and he still cared enough about Mako’s privacy even if Mako got to see him vulnerable and naked. 

Tenderly, Mako pulled apart Jamison’s hands and yet he still turned his face away, closing his eyes, teeth clacking together.

“I-I’m sorry,” Jamison whispered. Mako wasn’t sure if it was because he almost died, because he wasn’t wearing his paints, or because he was going to see Mako without _his_ mask.

He grabbed him with his palm, directing Jamison to look at him. His golden eyes went wide as he stared at Mako’s naked face. His cheeks reddened and so did Mako’s.

It was too intimate. Jamison was looking at _him_ and he was looking at Jamison, his big thick fingers brushing against his wet freckled cheek. Jamison stared at every feature on Mako’s face. 

He looked so demure, so vulnerable and so soft. He felt like he could live in that moment.

Ophelia had been right. She had always been right. 

He wasn’t going to be an idiot anymore.

Jamison closed his eyes as Mako pressed his lips together, the shaky thin lips cold against his thick ones. He wrapped his arms around Jamison and pulled him close and safe, very softly pulling at his lip. 

The Jester wrapped his arms around Mako’s neck, letting Mako lead the kiss. His cheeks were burning, his heart beating hard against his thin chest as Mako pressed him against the floor. Mako separated to take a breath, kissing Jamison’s neck and whispering into it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered with a thick voice. “I treated you like shit.”

“It’s okay,” Jamison said, attempting to be comforting. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Now Mako pressed his face against the Jester’s chest, kissing the skin while on the verge of tears, the image of a dead Jamison being dragged away into the depths of the ocean printed in his mind, the image of him broken and bruised beneath him tearing into his soul. But Jamison’s thin fingers petted his buzzed hair, his lips kissing Mako’s thick neck.

 

He was Mako Rutledge.  
And he would never let Jamison go.


	20. Fuchsite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako could have stayed in that moment forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are learned.
> 
> Hello!! Here is the new chapter. These chapters are taking a bit more time because i've been kind of taking it easy, so I hope y'all understand!! thank you !!!!
> 
> Shot out to my gf, Trish who is my beta! love you !!
> 
> This one is a bit short, but it has exposition. I hope you guys enjoy it! thank you for reading!!

Mako could have stayed in that moment forever. Nothing else mattered but that instant, kissing Jamison deeply against the boat’s deck. It was a moment straight out of a cheesy romance novel, and if Mako had read it in some book, he would have thrown it against the wall while laughing, but he wouldn’t have it another way.

Jamison hissed as he moved his arm, separating from Mako. The pirate remembered that he had pulled the Jester’s arm so hard he dislocated it. They needed to put it back in place, otherwise that could turn really bad for Jamison. It was going to suck.

“Gotta pop it back in,” Mako whispered. Jamison groaned, knowing what was coming, but he didn’t say a thing, knowing it was necessary. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths as he began to slightly freak out about it. Mako wished he had something to give him that he could chew.

He took off his belt, folding it and placing it between Jamison’s teeth. The young man accepted it and shook with anxiety about the pain to come. With one hand, he pinned him against the floor, feeling his heart flutter frantically against his palm. With the other, Mako grabbed his shoulder and in one swift movement popped it back into place.

Jamison chewed the leather belt, screaming through it hard, loud, and long. Mako held him, letting him scream and squirm before spitting out the belt and crying.

“Sorry,” Mako said, but Jamison shook his head. It was necessary. He gave a quick peck on his lips. 

As much as he wanted to stay there and kiss Jamison (and maybe fuck him a little), Mako had to assess the situation and just what the fuck had happened.

A giant octopus-like creature had dragged the Red Tide underwater along with him and Jamison. It had also talked. Ophelia knew something about that thing and what was happening. Obviously he needed to question the witch once again. 

“How you feeling?” he asked Jamison. He lazily gave him a thumbs-up with his mechanical hand, exhausted. Jamison needed to rest and, honestly, so did Mako, but he had to attend to some matters first. 

“Come on.” He tried to scoop Jamison up but the Jester laughed and brushed him away.

“Just- give me a sec, okay? I kinda…” He giggled. “Let me get my bearings. Let me be miserable for a while, haha.”

“You sure? I can carry you if-”

“M’ fine, just… give me a sec. I almost died, ya know.”

Mako nodded. He would rather not leave him on the floor, but he was going to dignify Jamison’s request. “If you need anything shout, okay?”

“Gotcha,” he sighed, but then stared at Mako’s eyes, smiling dozily. “Ya are really handsome.”

Mako was slightly taken aback by this. Handsome was not a word that people used for him, well, ever. His hair was shaved short, almost bald, but it left a fuzz of white on his round head. His nose was thick and stubby above very thick lips that matched his thick chin, full of fuzz. His eyebrows were black and thick as well, square and expressive. Compared to the rest of him, Mako’s eyes were small, but he still looked intimidating.

Piercings decorated him; his eyebrows, his ears, and finally a thick ring in his septum. But despite his piercings, his scar was the most prominent feature of his face. 

The left side of his face looked like a shark had bitten him. And it had. Bite marks scarred his hairline down his temple and split his eyebrow as they ran over his eye. His eye was now a milky blue, but he could see out of it just fine, strangely enough. Luck, he supposed. The shell of his left ear had been ripped off by the shark that bit him. Biggest motherfucking shark he had ever seen, but he punched it to death. And the scars made him look fantastic, not that anyone would see them anyways. Mako hid behind his mask, but he knew that if _anyone_ was to see him he would cause fear, panic, horror.

But Jamison had called him handsome. He wasn’t sure how to react, blinking and looking away.

“Made ya flustered? Sorry big guy.”

He was right, he was flustered. He hadn’t expected someone as youthful and…well, someone like Jamison, who had seen princes, dukes, and noblemen, to call him anything but disgusting.

“You’re… handsome too.” He felt his cheeks burn as he turned away. “Very.”

“Awh, thank ya.” 

Mako coughed, slightly embarrassed. He crouched to get his mask, putting it on and feeling the safe inside brush against his face. He also retrieved his belt and looped it around his pants as he walked away. “Going to find Ophelia.”

Jamison uttered a “Go get ‘er” as Mako walked away. She was nowhere on the deck, and neither was his crew. He heard noises from his quarters, so Mako quickly made his way to his room.

Ophelia was inside, examining the wine bottles Mako had stashed away. Mako simply stared at her, coughing to grab her attention, but she didn’t seem to care about him, instead looking at the labels on the bottles as she put them away. He wasn’t sure what she was looking for until she pulled up a bottle of rose wine, opened it, and chugged it. 

“That’s mine,” Mako said as he got there, taking the bottle away from her. She stared at him angrily, yanked the bottle back, and continued to chug it. Mako just stared as she finished it and put the bottle away. They both stared at each other and Ophelia looked furious. She opened her mouth to speak, lips twitching, but instead grabbed another bottle of rose wine, opened it, and chugged it. 

“Are you done?” Mako crossed his arms, waiting for whatever the hell this was to end.

“I could drink all the wine in the world and I wouldn’t be done.” She wiped her mouth. 

“I need to talk to you.” She ignored him as she went for the third bottle, but Mako basically yanked her away from it angrily. “I have a lot of questions to ask you, Ophelia. What the fuck happened? Where is my crew and what was that thing?”

Ophelia dragged her hand down her face, tired as if she knew she would have to explain a lot. “Shit. God damn. Fuck, okay.” She brushed the hair off her face, waving her palms around and rolling her eyes. “Your crew may have been taken by that thing. Yeah, I am about one hundred percent sure that’s what happened.”

Mako unsheathed his sword, pressing the blade against her neck. She looked at the blade, then at Mako. “We both know that you won’t kill me. It wouldn’t be wise of you.”

“I make bad decisions all the time. Try me.”

Ophelia took a deep breath. “Okay, fine. Alright, so-”

“The short version.”

“You won’t understand-”

“Short. Version.”

The Witch groaned angrily, crossing her arms and staring at Mako like a petulant child.

“That was the Soothsayer coming to claim his debt.”

Mako just stared at her in silence without moving for several seconds, cocking his head to one side. “ _What._ ”

“You wanted the short version, no?”

“Fine, tell me the long version. I don’t care, tell me what the fuck is going on.”

The door opened gently and Jamison slipped inside. He was still wet and looked tired. Ophelia’s eyes went slightly wide as she saw him.

“Oh, you’re alive?” She turned to face Mako. “Guess things are looking up for you, eh?”

“What’s-”

“Ophelia is about to tell us what the hell is going on. Aren’t you, Ophelia?”

She brought her fingers to her temple, massaging them softly. Jamison sat on the bed and Mako followed as well as Ophelia got ready for her story.

“Alright. There is this individual, this man. He is the Soothsayer. He, he is probably the most powerful being in the sea, as far as I know. Magic basically pours out of his being. I, I got my powers thanks to him. Kind of; well, he hates me. I kind of stole his power. But it was fair! We made a deal! And he hates me-”

“Is this going somewhere?” Mako groaned.

“I dunno, this is kinda interesting.” Jamison chuckled, but honestly Mako didn’t care about Ophelia’s tragic past or whatever.

“Get to the point, Ophelia.”

“After I cursed Anne Daniels, I don’t know how the Soothsayer managed to get ahold of her. He…did something to her, so now she works for him. She is under his command. While she still follows the rules of mortals and works for your King, Daniels is the Soothsayer’s pawn. She kills pirates for the King, but their souls, their bodies, they are fuel to the Soothsayer. Give him more power. He feeds off them.” She paced around the room, waving her arms and hands around as she explained. “I don’t know how. I don’t know how it is that he convinced her to do this. She is not like this. But I didn’t care; I was angry and heartbroken, so I didn’t care. 

“She waited for you to bring me so she didn’t do her job. The Soothsayer came for her and dragged her away, maybe to punish her, kill her, I don’t know. But that’s what happened. She got taken by him because she waited for us and didn’t do her job. He took her, and he took your crew. That’s why there is no one here; he took them all. That creature, those tentacles? That voice you heard? Because I know you heard that voice. That was him.”

She finally finished talking and basically panted nervously. She kept pulling her hair, looking frantically around as her skinny frame twitched. She looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

“Okay so,” Jamison spoke, sitting straight on the bed, “let me get this straight. There is this magician, and you got his powers from ‘im. Daniels is being blackmailed by ‘im, but she didn’t do her job for a while so now he took her?”

“Yes. And now he is going to go after you, too.” She pointed at Mako and Jamison, raising her voice. “You’re on his list now.”

Mako rose to his feet, the bed under him creaking. “Why would he be after us, specifically?”

“He tried to take you and your little boyfriend there. But you didn’t let him, so now he is going to go after you too.”

“We have nothing to do with him. We didn’t even know he existed until right now.”

“Well, but you didn’t let yourself be taken by him, and he takes whatever he wants. So now you’re gonna be hunted by him, too. So now this is your battle as well.” She smiled wide, frantic and manic. “We’re fucked.”

“This is stupid. This is very stupid.” Mako started laughing. “This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.”

Ophelia stared at him angrily, teeth showing, and honestly for one second Mako thought she was going to lunge at him and bite him, but she just stared.

“A magic man is going to kill us. I would say that you are out of your fucking mind if I hadn’t seen a ship being dragged under the sea by a giant octopus.” 

Mako groaned, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought. Well. He had no crew and a sea magician was out to kill him and Jamison. Damn, just some days ago the only thing on his mind was getting drunk and storming a castle. When had it become so ridiculous?

“Okay then.” 

Ophelia stared at him, confused. “...Okay then? Okay what?” 

Mako shrugged. “Okay then.”

“You don’t seem to fully understand the severity of the situation, Mako. Is that really the only thing you can say?”

Mako shrugged once again. “So okay, how do we kill this guy?”

“What.”

“How do you kill the Soothsayer?”

“You…you can’t kill the Soothsayer. You can’t…he is the Soothsayer. _The_ Soothsayer; did you not pay attention to what I was saying? You can’t just storm in and kill him. You can’t-”

“Got no other option, do we? If we wait here, he will eventually find and kill us. We either wait for death or we go down fighting.” Mako chuckled lowly. “Personally, I am a fan of going down with a fight, don’t you agree?”

Jamison laughed darkly behind him. “If we are gonna die anyways, why can’t we do it in a fun way? Try to bring the fucker down with us, eh?”

Ophelia was astonished by their reactions, eyes wide and face pale. 

“You don’t have to do this. You have no reason to stay here. You can go hide; we don’t need you.”

Ophelia blinked and looked at her feet. “No, I-I want to-” She gulped. “It’s…it’s my fault Anne is in this situation. I have…I have to help her. It’s the least I can do.”

“Okay then.” Mako gave a hearty laugh that echoed in his room. “We will kill the Soothsayer!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Mako design is based on Sharkbait Mako design by [Cap_Chameleon!!](https://twitter.com/Capt_Chameleon)  
> 


	21. Rose Quartz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They set sail.
> 
> Hello!! It has been a while since I updated this, I'm sorry!! I got stressed at work, the holidays came and then I got extremely sick for a week. Unfortunately, There won't be many updates for this as for next week I'm going to vacation to the beach, so I won't be writing. Sorry! But so it is. In the meantime I'll try to update other fanfics before going to the beach, hehe. 
> 
> This is a bit of a filler! The next chapters will be more action oriented and will have more stuff happening. Sometimes we just kinda need fillers, eh!
> 
> Shotout to my gf Trish who was my beta reader! Love you!
> 
> I hope you guys like it! thank you for reading !!

A bunch of barrels huddled together, plus a broken-down table, made for a makeshift desk for Ophelia to dump one of Mako’s maps on. She bit at her fingers as she stared at it, looking around her as if calculating just exactly where they were. Mako watched her intently alongside Jamison, sitting cross-legged and staring at her.

“Okay…” She whispered to herself while rolling a piece of charcoal on her hands. She marked a circle at one spot and tapped it gently with one finger. “This is where we are right now. As far as I know, the Soothsayer has reign over most of the ocean; however, there is a place where he ‘resides,’ so to speak. Where he basically spends his time more than anywhere else. This is where we are going to have to go to, closer to his domain.”

“Can’t we just summon ‘im so he comes where we are, rather than us going where he is?” Jamison asked in a curious voice.

“That will probably take a very long time and that’s a thing we don’t have. It is better if we just approach him.” She started to scribble circles on the map representing the Soothsayer’s domain. There were three circles: the Inner Circle, the Middle, and the Eye, as Ophelia wrote on the map. “The closer we get to there, the more dangerous it’ll be. He resides in the Eye.”

“Okay,” Mako huffed as he stared at the map. “How do we kill him?”

Ophelia rubbed her face in stress, sighing and tightening her shoulders. “While he is a very strong magical being, he is not immortal. I believe his body is actually fragile after you get through the magical barrier. His heart should be in his body, so we could kill him by destroying his heart.”

“His heart is in his body? As opposed to what, exactly?” Jamison chuckled nervously.

“Some… _people_ , like me, got their hearts carved out. So you could technically destroy our bodies and we would regenerate, so it is harder to kill us, so to speak.”

Mako recalled the beating heart he still had tied to his belt. He would have to give it to her later, he supposed, but he would keep ahold of it for the moment. He needed leverage in case she wanted to fuck off while they were executing their plan. 

He wondered if Anne Daniels was in the same situation. Her ship burned down and she looked completely okay after it all. Maybe her heart had been carved out as well and was somewhere safe?

It wasn’t really the time to think about that. 

“I don’t know if he has any sort of actual weakness, so-”

“So we have to get there and beat him to death.”

Ophelia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sure we can figure out an exact plan as we go forward. For now, we must start sailing.”

“Alright,” Mako said as he popped his shoulders, making his way towards the wheel. However, Ophelia raised her arms slowly and gently into the sky.The ship creaked, the wind becoming stronger as the steering wheel of the ship started to move by itself. 

“What-?!” Mako yelped as the ship started to move, the sails ready as the wind pushed it towards their destination. The ship basically sailed by itself with no one at the helm. He turned to Ophelia, who brought her hands to her hips as she nodded to Mako.

“Sea witch, remember? It comes with some perks.”

“...Okay.” He tried to ignore how much it creeped him out that she could command the ship. “How long until we reach him?”

“Hmm.” She flicked her fingers and in an instant the ship went faster. Jamison was still sitting and yet it knocked him onto the floor proper, and Mako felt his body shake as the Sea Hog sailed. “About a day and a half.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Mako felt like he needed a drink. This woman would be the end of him.

“Are you ready to fight whatever he throws at us?” she yelled at Mako with anger in her voice. 

“Fought off your undead corpses.” He turned to face her. “Which, by the way, what the _fuck_. I did not know you were such a ghoul.”

“First of all, they were already dead when I got there. Shipwreck and disease will do that. Second of all, don’t tell me you have never overreacted to heartache.”

“You are ridiculous.” 

“Can’t ye use some of yer magic to fight him off?” Jamison interjected as he stood up, keeping balance and trying not to get knocked down again due to the speed of the boat.

“I am weaker than him. My magic comes from his, in a way. It’s going to be very difficult, but I can…try.” She tugged at her hair softly, biting her lip. 

“Ya said he uses yer gal to collect the souls of pirates, eh?” Jamison ventured. “What for?”

“He feeds off them.”

“Oh, like…” Jamison squirmed in place. A lone crab was walking across the deck near Ophelia. She looked at it for one second before picking it up with her hands, careful not to get pinched. “He… eats them?”

“It is worse than death itself, so I’ve heard.” She looked at the crab in her hands, the glassy eyes blinking as it kept making pinching motions with its claw. She toyed with it, passing it from one hand to the other without looking at Jamison. “When you die, your soul remains, so to speak…but to be consumed is to become nothingness. It is worse than dying, because you become nothing.”

She brought the crab to her mouth and took a bite out of it, her diamond-like teeth piercing through the shell like it was nothing. The meat spilled from the wound alongside thick blue jelly blood as Ophelia chewed and swallowed. The blue blood stuck to her chin and dripped onto the floor of the deck. “To not exist must be a horrible experience.”

Both Jamison and Mako just stared at her as she continued to eat the raw crab like it was nothing. Mako scratched the back of his neck and sighed. 

“...We should eat something,” Mako said to clear the air and his thoughts. They hadn’t eaten since god knows when, so it wasn’t a bad idea, either. 

Mako was trying to remember if there was any food in the pantry, but that wasn’t his job; it was the cook’s duty, so he wouldn’t know. He would probably have to fish something up, but it would be difficult with the speed the boat was going at. He didn’t think Ophelia would take kindly to slowing down considering her current emotional state.

“Whoa!” Jamison gasped. Mako looked to where the Jester was pointing to see a group of crabs basically floating in the air before being dropped at their feet.

Mako looked at back at Ophelia, who just blinked and shrugged. “There’s your dinner.”

Well, that was nice of her, he supposed. Mako grabbed a couple of burlap bags that were close to him and threw one to Jamison. They carefully grabbed the crabs and shoved them into the bags, leaving the others to just scuttle around the ship. Mako was already wondering what they could cook with the crabs, and his mind jumped to his favorite dish from his childhood. Hopefully they had enough ingredients in the pantry to make it.

“Ya don’t want nothin?” Jamison called out to Ophelia as they rushed to the kitchen with their bags of crabs. Ophelia just shook her head, taking another vicious bite out of the raw crab in her hands. Mako saw how Jamison shuddered and he snorted.

Mako left his bag of crabs on a table and went to retrieve the things he needed from the pantry. He grabbed huge pots and filled them with water. Without even speaking, he grabbed one of the oil lamps from the wall, opened it, and pushed a piece of wood inside to create a small torch, which he used to turn on the stove before placing the pots with water on it. Jamison looked at him transfixed as Mako reached for the bags, opening them and looking at the dozen of crabs they had.

“Watcha’ doin’?”

“Crab soup,” he muttered as he dumped the live crabs into the pots before closing them and placing rocks on top of the lids so the crabs wouldn’t escape. In the meantime, he looked through the pantry, which was pretty empty. It would be a pretty lacking crab soup, but he figured anything was good.

There was some flour, butter, and spices to make it thick. He grabbed them and poured butter and flour into a pan. “Are the crabs ready?” he asked as he stirred the pot, careful to not burn the flour. 

“Yeah,” Jamison said as he opened the lids with his mechanical hand and peeked inside. Mako leaned over; the crabs’ shells were orange. They were ready.

“Pick them out and de-shell them. You know how?”

“Aye captain!” Jamison giggled as he started picking them out with his metal hand and dropping them into a bowl. The Jester retrieved a knife and started quickly removing the shells, putting the leftover shells in one bowl and the crab meat in another. 

They did that until Jamison finished. Mako had finished cooking the flour as well, turning it into a golden paste. He scooped some of the water with a cup and slowly dumped it into the paste, making it into a thick sauce. 

“Pour the shells there.” Mako motioned at one of the pots. Jamison did so, closing the lid and letting them boil to make crab stock. 

He stirred the flour sauce more until the crab stock was ready. “Pick the shells out,” he instructed the Jester, who gingerly did so with his right prosthetic. 

Once he was done and the stock was clear of shell, Mako dumped his flour sauce into it, stirring and making the soup thick. Finally, he grabbed the crab meat and dumped it into the pot along with salt, pepper, and other spices he could find to give it a punch, stirring it gently and closing the lid to let it cook for a few minutes before serving.

Digging in the pantry, he found two big soup bowls and spoons. Once the soup boiled over, Mako took it out of the fire and opened the lid. He served a big bowl of it and gave it to Jamison before serving himself. 

“This looks delicious!” Jamison’s mouth was basically watering, Mako just sat down on one of the chairs, bowl of soup small in his hand, and shoved his mask up to uncover his face. His nose was hit by the smell of his cooking, pleasant and earthy. 

“I would have made it better, but there isn’t much around here.”

Even so, Jamison ate like a hungry dog, basically shoving spoonfuls of the soup into his maw like it was the most delicious thing in the world. Some of it dribbled onto his chin. 

Mako brought some of it to his mouth, tasting it. It tasted really good, but again, after not eating much for the past few days, anything would taste amazing. It brought back memories from his home, his mother and childhood in general. The good parts. 

“Where did ya learn how to make this?” Jamison asked between mouthfuls of the soup.

“Mom made it all the time. Learned how to.”

“This is delicious! Best thing I’ve ever had!”

“What, they didn’t feed you in the castle?” Mako chuckled. He figured that Jamison probably ate like a king; after all, he was the Royal jester. 

“Nah mate, got fed barely fuckin’ scraps. Enough to survive, but not enough to get rid of the hunger.” He said it nonchalantly, like it was such a normal thing. Mako suddenly felt like shit for bringing it up, but he said nothing more about it as he kept eating. 

“Don’t be upset!” Jamison said as he stared at Mako’s face. It was that moment that the pirate realized that he didn’t have his mask on, so Jamison could read his emotions way more easily. This got him a bit flustered, which Jamison immediately picked up on, obviously. 

“I’m sorry, I’m not gonna look and-”

“It’s okay,” Mako rumbled. “You’re not intruding. I’m allowing you to.”

“Oh.” Jamison brought his flesh hand to his face, as if he had just realized he wasn’t wearing his makeup as well. “Oh-okay.” 

There was an uncomfortable silence as they ate. Jamison had finished his bowl, but before he stood up to get more Mako did so for him, grabbing the bowl from his hands and going to the pot to refill it.

“Let me serve you,” Mako almost whispered as he gave the now-full soup bowl to Jamison. 

“Thank you.”

Jamison shifted in place, sitting down once more to eat. Mako returned to his spot, only to notice that Jamison wasn’t actually eating.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ya bein’ too nice to me.”

“No,” Mako immediately said, like a reflex.

“Ye are! It weirds me out.”

“I was an asshole before. I’m trying to not be an asshole anymore.”

“Ya were an asshole.” Jamison stared at his bowl. “But I just thought that’s how ya were.”

“I am. But it’s not…it’s not okay.” 

“Ye are a pirate.” Jamison gave a sad smile as he ate more of the soup. “A Captain; ye are Mako Rutledge! I don’t expect someone like ye to be any different to me. I’m just a lowly Jester.”

Mako dropped his now-empty bowl as he stood up instantly, walking over Jamison. The Jester’s eyes went wide and he braced himself, placing his bowl on the table next to him as he knew Mako was going to do _something_ to him. It was then that the Captain realized that Jamison was probably waiting for Mako to punch him or bend him over the table and fuck him violently like had done before, because that’s what _pirates_ did. Because that was what Mako Rutledge used to do when he tried to pretend he had a big dick and no feelings, because that’s what being a “man” and what being “strong” was about. 

To be feared by the world was something Mako delighted in. That few knew what he looked like, being an object of _horror_ was something he took pride on. It fed him to know he was the boogeyman to old wives, to young mothers lulling their children at night.

But he didn’t want this. He had built himself a persona out of blood, horror, and death. He had buried who he used to be, the child who liked to catch crabs and cook them for his ill mother, the youngster who would run around wrestling sheep and goats. He had killed the person he used to be to become Captain Mako Rutledge, a feared man, a killer. The most dangerous human. But it all melted away into nothing as he stood in front of the man that absolutely destroyed him. He had burrowed his way into Mako’s skin, the way Mako wanted to ask him how he lost his arm, how the pirate wanted to ask him how his life was, the fact that he wanted to know more, to know about Jamison’s life like he was a book because he wanted to, because he was interested in it, because it was more than just fucking because his dick was hard.

Jamison looked at him with huge yes, not knowing what to expect. The way he looked at him, expecting violence or something like it, made Mako truly realize just how he had fucked up.

Gentle hands reached over Jamison’s lithe torso. He buried his naked face in the Jester’s neck, not kissing or grinding, just breathing his scent, closing his eyes as his eyelashes tickled his pale skin. Jamison was stiff and still, confused and unsure. 

“’m sorry,” Mako said gently. He felt Jamison relax under his grip, body loosening. “I should have treated you better.”

The Jester was quiet, his hands reaching to very gently pat Mako’s back. 

“It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.” He buried his face deeper. 

Regret wasn’t something that regularly came to Mako, and it was about different kinds of things, not…this. Not this kind of stuff. He knew deep down that it had been wrong and yet he continued to do it, because he felt that he had to, because he felt it was who he was.

“I’ll be better,” he said, still grabbing on the young man. 

Maybe he was going to die soon at the hands of the Soothsayer, so none of this really mattered. But if so, he would spend these few days alive making amends, making it better. It was the least he could do.

“I promise.”


	22. Muscovite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I don’t need your fake pity.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They move forward
> 
> Hello!! New chapter!!! im sorry i didn't update this for a while lkajsdklf i was on vacation and did other stuff ahaha.. hopefully y'all like this chapter! i sure did!
> 
> Shot out to my gf trish who was the beta reader!
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you like it!

The hours passed as they kept moving forward. The afternoon sky soon turned dark, stars and the moon illuminating the ocean as they kept their speed. Ophelia stood at the mast, staring at the horizon as they moved forward. She hadn’t said a thing, hadn’t moved from that place for several hours.

Mako approached her slowly. She didn’t acknowledge him, still staring at nothing. 

“Made crab soup. There is some in the kitchen if you want.”

She said nothing. Her hair waved in the wind, but her body stood very still.

“If you wa-”

“I don’t want it.”

“Well, if you do, there is still plenty.”

He saw how Ophelia gazed up at the sky, staring at the moon. “We should be arriving around noon tomorrow.”

Mako didn’t say a thing, just looking at her from behind.

“The sea is calm. There is no need for you to stay awake. You can rest.”

“You’re acting strange,” Mako finally said. Ophelia had been catty and rude in the past, and suddenly she was very serious and quiet. It unnerved him a little, if he had to admit. 

She didn’t turn to face him, but he could tell she shook her head. 

“Don’t pretend that you care. You have your own things to care about. Go sleep. You can fuck things up if you are too tired for tomorrow. I don’t need sleep. I’ll stay here.”

This was just too weird and unnerving. He would rather Ophelia throw insults at him, not…this. But whatever. He wasn’t really in the mood of trying to pretend he cared too much. 

“I don’t need your fake pity.” 

The sound of the waves filled the dead silence. Ophelia seemed like a statue, her long hair waving through the air with the wind. Mako nodded, turned around and left. He would leave her to her brooding or whatever the fuck she was doing. 

It had been a pretty crazy day. He was exhausted from everything. It was technically early; the sun had just set, but Mako felt like it was the middle of the night. Jamison had already left to the Captain’s quarters after eating more of the crab soup. 

His heavy footsteps creaked on the ladder as he made his way to the door. He opened it softly, not even paying attention to the room as he slipped inside and closed the door behind him. He figured Jamison might be asleep already. The young man had almost died that same day; he was probably very exhausted as well. 

“Oh, hey!”

Instead, he was sitting on the bed, taking off his clothes. He had already taken off his jacket, which lay on the ground next to his shoes. He was fiddling with his belt, his back to Mako as he kept undressing. He looked at the man over his shoulder, smiling softly at him.

But Roadhog was focused on something else.

Jamison’s back was bare, his pale muscles shifting as he took off his belt. Across his very pale back was a scar that went from his right shoulder down to the side of his upper back, going through his shoulder blades and stopping just in the middle of his back. The scar was pink, looking like frosted ice on glass.

It was kind of beautiful. Like a tattoo, except that it was pink flesh rather than ink. How had he not seen it? His jacket was just the right size to hide the mark.

Mako had seen those types of scars before, a long time ago. 

“Jamie?” 

The man turned, having taken off his belt. His pants barely clung to his thin hips, and as he turned to face Mako he noticed that the scar started where his arm was missing. 

“Something wrong?” the jester asked, unsure of why Mako was staring. 

“You…were struck by lightning?”

Jamison blinked and it was like he was suddenly very aware of his body and Mako. He used his flesh hand to hide the scars on his arm, suddenly flustered.

“Ah… yeah. I, er. It was long ago, hehe.” He started to rub at his skin. “It’s…how I lost me arm. Had to be amputated.” 

Mako had a realization. “That’s why you’re scared of storms?”

“It…yeah. It was during a storm. Was holding a bunch of golden coins in me hand, and just…just running around in the rain, playing, y’know? I was just a teen. Then, bam! Everythin’ went dark. When I woke up I didn’t have me arm anymore.” He shrugged. “Happens.”

“I’m…sorry.”

“A lot of people think they’re kinda gross, so I try to cover ‘em up.” His face turned a little sad. “If…if ya think they’re gross I can put me clothes on again, and-”

“No, what? It isn’t gross. I’m just…I didn’t expect it, that’s all.” Mako sighed, tired. He took off his shark mask and began stripping down to sleep as well. “How are you feeling, by the way?”

“I’m…okay. Tired. Me back hurts. And me leg…”

Mako looked at Jamison’s right leg. The Jester had wrapped it in bandages, but blood still leaked out of it. The… _thing_ had wrapped its tentacle around his calf and dug its teeth into Jamison’s skin. The wound was deep, but didn’t seem like it would be too much of an issue.

“Keep watch on that leg.” 

He slipped into his bed, the soft mattress a blessing to his tired back. It felt so good while he covered himself in his sheets, and for a moment he felt comfortable, forgetting about the crazy situation they were all in.

He waited for Jamison to slip into the bed, but he never felt him. He opened his eyes, figuring he was still getting ready for bed, but instead he saw the young man lying on the blanket Mako had left for him on the floor at the corner of the room, back when they had just met and Mako had tied him up make sure he wouldn’t slip away.

“What are you doing?” he called out to him.

“I’m tryin’ to sleep?” Jamison called out, rolling onto his side and facing Mako.

“What? No. Come here, come on.”

“Ya…lettin’ me sleep with ya? In yer bed?”

“Yeah, come on. Get here.”

Jamison did so, quickly getting up and crawling under the sheets with Mako. The young man’s body was cold from lying on the floor and Mako felt like utter shit. 

“Why didn’t you just come over to bed?”

“Idunno, maybe ya don’t want me on your bed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” 

Mako felt something very cold and metallic touching his skin. He grabbed it. Jamison was still wearing his metal hand.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable for you? Shouldn’t you take it off?”

“Uh, a bit.” Jamison brought the metal hand to eye level, looking at it. “But the stump is… ya know. Gross and ugly. Ya probably don’t want to see it, heh. So I’m keepin’ it.”

The fact that Jamison called his scars ugly, slept on the floor, and thought Mako would find his stump repulsive made him feel so…small and weak. 

“You don’t have to. It’s okay.”

“Ya… don’t think it’s gross?”

“Jamison, I’ve seen stumps gangrene and fall off because of infection. I once saw a man tear his own gangrenous fingers off and throw them at his enemy. I’m okay with your stump.”

The Jester chuckled and started to unwrap the belts that attached to his stump. It took him few minutes, but he sighed in relief as he pulled off his prosthetic. The stump was a bit red and sweaty and Mako could see clearly the scarring from him having his arm amputated. Jamison reached over and placed his metal arm on the floor.

Mako took a deep breath, heavy hand wrapping around Jamison’s stump gently.

“Ah-” he gasped in surprise, but didn’t move away from Mako’s grasp. The pirate brushed the scars with his thumb, feeling the skin twitching under his digit.

“Is this okay?” he asked, softly stroking the pink flesh.

“Y-yeah, mate. I just-” He dug his face into the pillow. “Ya don’t…ya don’t think it's gross?”

Instead of words, Mako brought himself closer to the skin. His big lips brushed against the stump, kissing it softly, tracing his lips over the scarred skin. Jamison took deep breaths, staring deep at Mako’s eyes as the older man continued kissing his scars. Soft noises came out of him and they were delicious. 

“Mako…” he whispered softly, shifting closer to the pirate. With his free hand, Mako touched his naked chest, spreading his fingers and pressing his skin. “A-ah…”

“Are you okay?” he asked, softly. Jamison chuckled, out of air, and nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Mako said, his fingers trailing down the dips in Jamison’s abs, index tracing his belly button. He felt so good, so nice to his fingers. 

“W-what for?” Jamison sucked air through his teeth when Mako dipped his hands lower, down to his pelvis, lingering on the soft skin just above his dick. 

“I was an asshole. I used you for sex. I hurt you.”

“Ye aren’t the only one,” he replied. He probably thought this was a comforting thought for Mako, but it was anything but. It made him stop for a second, his head trying to truly understand what he had just implied. Jamison noticed this. “I mean, don’t feel bad. Ya are better than anyone else.”

“You… mentioned something before. About nobles, and-”

“Ah.” Jamison’s cheeks went red. “Well, when…when ya are the King’s jester, nobles notice ya, I guess. Many of ‘em promised me riches, freedom, and other things in exchange for, y’know, fucks. I never believed ‘em, but when some rich fuck tells ya to bend over and promises ya some gold for it, ya gotta do it. I guess they were all into the idea of fuckin’ some low life Jester on the side. They did give me some gold which I hid, too. Oh, mate, there was this minister or whatever, he was so fuckin’ rough, he left me legs bruised up so bad. He also was into chokin’ and was pretty violent. The maids that found me thought someone had tried to kill me! He did give me some nice rubies, though. So don’t worry; ya aren’t too rough.”

A mixture of emotions hit Mako all of a sudden. Sadness, confusion and extreme anger. It churned his guts. Made him wish he knew who these people were so he could gut them like fish.

“It’s okay,” Jamison said, as if he was reading his mind. His golden eyes stared up at Mako, smiling.

Mako wrapped his arms around Jamison and brought him close, one hand pressing the Jester’s face against his soft chest. His other hand traced his spine up to his ass and softly cupped it and caressed. He wanted to make him feel good. He was not going to be like those men. 

He pressed soft kisses into his shoulders, licking and biting gently. Jamison started moaning into Mako’s tanned skin. He closed his eyes, pressing himself further into the bigger man’s grasp, opening his mouth in a silent moan. Mako used the opportunity to kiss him, slipping his tongue inside of him.

“I’ll make you feel good,” he whispered into his mouth, and Jamison just took a sharp breath, stomach hitching. “Do you want me to fuck you?” 

“Y-yes,” he said, flesh hand desperately grabbing at Mako’s skin. “Please. Please Mako. Please fuck me.”

 

Soft pants littered the darkness in the room, moonlight slipping in from the outside the only illumination as Jamison laid on his back, eyes closed and taking deep breaths, chest rising up and down softly as Mako kept his face between his thighs. He licked at the skin near the crotch as he fingered the younger man, preparing him for his cock. 

“M-Mako,” he whispered, clutching at the sheets until Mako was finally done. He sat up, lining himself up with Jamison as he stroked his own cock a couple of times, his other hand tracing his fingers along Jamison’s hip bone. He could feel the young man’s arousal.

As he softly pressed his cockhead into Jamison’s hole, Mako closed his eyes, savoring the sounds Jamison made under him. 

“Okay?”

“O-okay,” he panted, licking his lips. Mako kept going, impaling himself further into the young man’s ass, feeling the hot tightness and smooth warmth around him. God. God, he felt so good. 

He curled into Jamison, pressing him against the bed and planting kisses on his neck and up his chin and at the corner of his lips as he just felt himself inside of him. His hips started to thrust in and out, very softly, slowly, feeling the drag of Jamison’s insides. God, it made his guts heat up. 

Jamison wrapped his arms around Mako’s neck as he slowly, very gently thrusted. His thick fingers pressed against his nipples, rolling them softly as the young man gasped and moaned under his touch. 

“F-fuck,” he gasped and Mako grunted. He softly caressed him, lovingly thrusting in and out, slowly and deliciously. Jamison panted hard, pressing his face into Mako’s neck, hiding himself as he panted and moaned. 

He pulled at him lovingly, slowly rolling his hips, feeling him. His hands wrapped around Jamison’s lithe body and pressed him against himself more, engulfing him with his girth. 

“M-Mako, fuck,” he almost cried out, sweating and holding on to Mako. “Please-please, oh fuck.”

Mako closed his eyes and felt his body. Felt his sharp chin, his pointy nose. His hair, his smooth skin that stuck to his bones, the hotness of his rim, how warm his insides were. The way his erect cock pressed at his gut. The way he smelled of paint chemicals and sea salt. How soft his lips were. 

He thrusted his hips deep into him, holding still while he came, whispering sweet nothings against Jamison’s ear. Jamison turned his face and kissed him and twitched under him while cum coated his insides, rolling his own hips, trying to milk Mako of every single drop of cum.

Mako would have rather Jamison come first, honestly. He wrapped his hand around his cock and started pulling softly while still inside of Jamison. He dug the back of his head into the pillow as Mako toyed with his penis, pumping it while he slowly thrusted into his ass. 

“F-fuck, I’m-” He clenched, body going stiff. He let out a silent scream while his cum coated their bellies, twitching and squirming in pleasure. 

They remained like that for few seconds before Mako pulled out of him. A trail of semen leaked, spilling from Jamison’s ass while he laid on his side and looked at the young man.

“How was it?”

“F-fuck, it was amazing, holy shit.” He chuckled, cleaning the sweat off his forehead and turning to face Mako. “Ya didn’t have to.”

“Come ‘ere,” 

They were dirty and full of spunk and sweat. Mako lazily cleaned it off with one of his spare pillows. Whatever, he could wash it later. He threw it across the room after cleaning up their bellies and then went to hold Jamison close in his arms. 

“Thank you,” Jamison whispered against his skin while Mako just kissed his forehead. 

“No, thank you.”

It wasn’t long before Mako fell asleep, lulled by the sound of the ocean, the wind, and Jamison’s soft breaths.


	23. Amazonite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something hard crashed against the boat, making a terrible noise. It rocked the ship back and forth violently, so roughly it knocked Mako and Jamison out of the bed. Jamison rolled on the floor, crashing against the wall while Mako braced himself on the floor as he felt the ship rock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They find their first obstacle.
> 
> Hello! Whats up! here is the new chapter, this one is specially actiony!! I hope y'all like it !!!
> 
> EEEEH there isn't much to say ehehe.  
> shot out to my gf trish!! she is my beta! Love u baby!
> 
> Thank you for reading and i hope y'all like it !

Something hard crashed against the boat, making a terrible noise. It rocked the ship back and forth violently, so roughly it knocked Mako and Jamison out of the bed. Jamison rolled on the floor, crashing against the wall while Mako braced himself on the floor as he felt the ship rock. 

“Are you okay?!”

“Y-yeah!” Jamison said as he pressed himself against the wall and floor, clearly terrified.

Mako stood up, struggling to keep his balance. He grabbed his mask and quickly slipped it on as he felt something else crash against the ship, but without as much strength as the first strike. 

“Stay here!” he yelled, making his way outside. 

Ophelia was at the helm of the ship in a strange stance, fingers twitching and her hair wildly moving in the air. The waves crashed against the boat with supernatural strength, winds blowing like they were in the middle of a storm. 

“What’s happening?!”

“It’s starting!” Ophelia screamed, still in place. Her muscles strained as water rose to try to protect the ship.

“What are you doing?!”

“I’m trying to not let the storm get to us!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. Mako only saw her muscles tense as she tried to keep them safe. “Hang on!”

Mako looked at the horizon and saw water rising into the sky, twisting and turning along with the air. Electricity ran along it until it reached the clouds, spinning wildly and creating a small whirlpool underneath it.

A tornado.

The sky flashed with electricity as it made its way towards them and Ophelia screamed. She lifted her arms, a barrier of water rising several feet in the air. The water shoved the ship along a different route to avoid the oncoming twister. 

“Fuck!” she howled. “We’re not going to be able to avoid it!”

“What do we do?!”

Before Mako could get an answer, more water rose from the sea and into the sky, forming another tornado coming their way. And then another. And then _another_. These things just kept popping up. Mako knew this was not natural; this was something made out of magic.

“Fine!” Ophelia screamed into the sea. “This is what you want?! This is how you’re going to be?! Fine!”

Ophelia brought her arms down, dead still despite the waves thrashing the ship. Mako saw her skin began to glow as though lightning traveled under it, flaring up and glowing white.

“Ophelia?!” Mako reached to her and turned her around. Her eyes were a milky glowing white, face glowing as well as her entire body clenched. The electricity under her skin looked as though it was splitting it open.

“Go. Inside.” Her voice sounded like the sea, terrifying and powerful. It reached into Mako’s very core as though the ocean itself spoke to him.

He did as she said. He went inside his cabin, running and closing the door.

“Mako?! What is happenin-”

The pirate didn’t have time to answer before the strength of the wind almost ripped open the cabin doors. Mako attempted to close them, but the wind was way too powerful. 

“Hang on!” he yelled at Jamison as he saw the view from the doorway.

Water rose from the ocean yet again, forming another tornado. It was bigger than the other ones, spinning far faster than them too. Mako ran up to the railing to look at it and saw Ophelia’s hands outstretched, fingers twitching as she created the tornado. She commanded it, somehow making it move faster than the other ones.

Mako had never witnessed anything like this. Ophelia’s tornado crashed against the other ones, pressing forward until it absorbed the others’ winds and electricity as she tensed and screamed. It was as if it affected her too, electricity running through her body and sparks flying from her skin as she kept pushing forward.

Her tornado became a monster, basically a hurricane. She kept pushing, swallowing the tornados that popped up and making hers bigger, wilder, more difficult to control.

“Augh!” she screamed. She was obviously in pain, but she kept surging forward. There were no more tornadoes, but the sky spit lightning at the sea, approaching the ship with every strike. Ophelia used her mega storm to swallow all of them. Sparks ran through the air as it spat lightning like a deadly spinning top. 

“Holy shit,” Jamison whispered from his side. Yeah. Holy shit. 

“Aaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaugh!” she screamed one more time until she very violently spread her arms. The wind and water and lightning went up into the sky, dissipating the storm clouds that had gathered to destroy them. Her muscles clenched painfully as she destroyed the storm, air splitting into several directions as it became smaller and smaller until it was gone.

The woman stumbled a little, trying to regain her balance, but crashed to the ground.  
Mako made his way down slowly and carefully while Jamison rushed past him.

“Holy shit, is she dead?!”

Mako didn’t know, but before he could say anything he felt the ship rock back and forth once more. The tornados had disappeared, but the sea was still wild and strong. 

“Check if she is okay!” he yelled at Jamison, who nodded and made his way to Ophelia. Mako went to take the wheel. He may not have had weird sea magic, but he was a Captain, and he would sail his ship. 

The winds were strong and unforgiving, rain falling on his fat body while he kept control of the ship. He had to use all his strength, the muscles of his arms bulging as he kept the Sea Hog steady.

The wind hit him and reminded him of previous storms he had encountered in the past. Like this, hail hitting his hot skin, arms burning from the strain, keeping his stance as he moved on forward atop the ocean, atop his home.

“Is this all you got?!” he screamed at the sky, keeping the ship steady with intoxicating difficulty. It made him feel alive. “I am Mako Rutledge! I will not bow to you!”

The sea roared as if it had heard him. It pushed his ship, but Mako refused to give. He pushed forward, laughing maniacally as his beautiful Sea Hog survived. He would not let the storm beat him. He was Mako Rutledge, damnit. He was the most powerful pirate in the world and he was not going to go down.

Hours passed until the storm weakened the more they moved, until the sky was clear. The ocean had stopped trashing the ship around. Mako’s muscles were sore, sweat rolling down his back and tickling him. Taking a deep breath, he turned around.

The deck was full of water, fish, and seaweed. Jamison wasn’t around, nor was Ophelia. He went to the kitchen and, sure enough, Ophelia was lying on one of the tables, twitching and moving around. Jamison sat and stared at Mako the moment he entered the room.

“We beat the storm?”

Mako nodded. “You hurt?”

“Nah. Scraped a bit. It’s fine.”

Mako pointed at Ophelia, who kept wriggling and making gurgling noises. 

“She okay?”

“I’m not-” She tried to prop herself up with her elbows, but vomited on the table. Blood and… sea water? Nasty. “I’m okay.”

“What the fuck was that? You did that? All of that?”

“Y-you seem to forget I’m t-the s-sea witch.” She stared up at Mako, blood and kelp (kelp?) spilling from her mouth. “It’s very hard, though.”

“So, I assume that was the first line of defense?”

“Yes.” Ophelia managed to sit down, her face tired and wrecked. She looked absolutely exhausted. “After this it will get harder.”

“Harder? That was some kind of supernatural storm!”

“Yeah. Harder. You remember the giant octopus? You’re going to see him again.”

“At least we can kill the octopus.”

“Y-you don’t understand, do you?” Ophelia stared up at him, anger painted on her face. “You keep going on saying how we are going to defeat him, how we are going to win. Are you really that moronic?”

“What else is there to do? I am not going to run away. I am no coward.”

“Cowards live longer, Mako.”

“But it’s not a life worth living.” He pointed at the horizon with his fat finger. “So, we are going to keep going. If we die, then so be it.”

“I hate pirates,” she said under her breath, moving her finger until the ship moved once again. She clutched her head in her hands in pain. “Ugh. How did you get us out of there?”

“I am Captain Mako Rutledge. I don’t need magic to sail my ship.”

Ophelia looked legitimately impressed for a few seconds before she clutched her head once more. 

“So we got the freaky supernatural storm. What’s next?” Jamison said, standing next to Mako and holding his hand. Shit, that was cute. 

“I am not sure. Maybe we will fight some of his pets. Who knows. The closer we get, the more dangerous it’ll be.”

“I’ll kill them,” said Mako.

“Yeah, whatever. Ugh, my head is killing me,” said Ophelia

“There is still some crab soup,” Jamison suggested. Ophelia looked up at him, clearly annoyed, but didn’t say a thing. She just laid down on the table once more and closed her eyes tiredly. 

“You need to rest. We will keep watch for the day.”

“Yeah. You do that,” she sighed, relaxing on the table and closing her eyes, ready to sleep. 

Mako nodded to Jamison and they left the kitchen. The sky was clear and there didn’t seem to be anything dangerous around them.

“Did ye really sail this ship by yerself?” 

“Of course. I’m a Captain; I must be able to get her to safety.”

“That’s… that’s so amazing. I was pretty fuckin’ terrified.”

“Really?” Mako turned to look at him. “You acted very brave.”

“Well- yeah! But I was terrified! There was a fuckin’ thunder tornado! But I knew I had to help ya by bringing the witch inside,” he exclaimed proudly. “Then I curled into a ball and cried until the storm was over.”

Mako snorted, shaking his head. The ship moved steady thanks to Ophelia’s magic, the wheel still as the ship sailed itself thanks to the air and water. The older man sighed and looked at the horizon while Jamison ran around.

“Aha!” he loudly exclaimed. Mako turned around to see what the commotion was.

The Jester had his juggling balls in his hands, inspecting and shaking them. They still jingled, which made Jamison smile wide.

“Yes! They’re still here!”

“Sentimental? Expensive? They’re just juggling balls.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.”

The jingling reminded Mako of jewels and ore. Which reminded him of something.

“Hey. You haven’t spat up anything in a while. You still got gold?”

“Er.” Jamison bit his lip. “Yes and…no.”

Mako cocked his head, looking at the young blond. “...Did you crap them?”

“No! God that would fuckin’ hurt. Nah.” He looked nervous for a second, but then smiled. “Well, I figure we are good with each other, so I guess I can let ya in on a little secret.”

Jamison patted his naked belly a little. “I don’t got nothin’ inside me right now.”

“Okay.” Well. To be honest, Mako had forgotten all about it with everything that happened those few days, but was glad Jamison was telling him the truth.

“Now.” Jamison grabbed one of the little balls and softly opened it, using the intricate indentations to split it in the middle. 

Mako’s eyes went wide when he saw several gems and pieces of jewelry inside.

“Can’t keep tha’ gold inside me too long; it will hurt me and can go down me intestine. Now THAT would suck. So I just hide them ‘ere when I spend too much time with ‘em inside, take a break, then swallow them back up!”

They remained silent for several seconds.

A while ago, Mako would be absolutely furious. He was a little bit angry on behalf of his past self, but honestly, goddamn that was clever. No wonder the Jester kept his juggling balls with him all day. And to think, the jewels were there, just waiting for him, easy to grab…Hah. How ironic. 

Now he didn’t really care about them. Sure, jewelry and riches were absolutely fine, but they were secondary now. There were far more important things to think about. 

And then he laughed. He hollered, because holy shit had Jamison played him a good one. He had managed to fool Mako Rutledge.

“You little shit.” 

“Hey, ya think I managed to steal all that gold and jewels from under tha’ King’s nose by just being pretty? A guy has to have his techniques!”

Mako just kept laughing loudly. 

 

The wind whistled softly as they moved on forward. It wasn’t necessary for them to be at the helm, so Mako and Jamison sat against the mast, their legs extended as they looked at the sky. The smell of the sea salt was calming, intoxicating. It made Mako feel at home.

“What about ye?”

“What about me?” Mako asked, arms crossed above his gut. 

“Told ye about me past, kinda. Bits about me, anyways. What about ye? It’s ya turn.”

“Hmm.” Mako wasn’t really a person that liked to talk about his past, but Jamison was right. The Jester had told him personal things about himself, so it was only fair for him to do the same. After all, he heard that was what people in relationships did, right? And this was a relationship. More than sex, anyways.

“How long ya been a pirate?”

How old was Mako currently? About 45, right? He did the math in his head. 

“Thirty years, I think. Started as a teen. Younger than you. Was a cabin boy. Cleaned around, was big and strong so I carried shit around, too. Worked with many ships, got traded off.”

“So young! It’s hard to think of Captain Mako Rutledge as just a cabin boy.”

Mako shrugged. “Time passed and I became part of the crew. Was a big motherfucker. The brawn for Captains.”

“How is it that ye got yer own crew and became a Captain?”

“I worked on one of the ships for about…five years. People knew me. Recognized me. Feared me. Respected me. The Captain was this old fuck who didn’t care about us. Didn’t respect us or our lives. So we mutinied. I personally took him and snapped his arms and legs. Left him paralyzed. Threw him into the ocean to be shark chum. Took the crew, took the ship. Became Captain and made ourselves known until every fucker in the ocean feared us.”

“Working yer way to the top. That’s…cool. I dunno, it’s weird to think ya weren’t just born into it. Like, amusing to think ya used to be just a regular pirate dude and then ya killed yer way to the top.”

“It’s how this life is. It’s how I got my respect and fear.”

“Were ye parents pirates, too?”

“No. My mother was a seamstress and my father was a sailor. My father went on a trip and my mom went along. The storm sank their ship. They died. Had to get a job to survive, so I became a cabin boy.”

Jamison didn’t say anything for a minute. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It was years ago.” Mako took a deep breath. “That’s the story of my life. Parents died, became a pirate, became Captain.” His palm went to rest on top of Jamison’s hand. “What about you? How did you come to live in the castle?”

“Me mum was one of the maids in there. Got pregnant, never knew who me father was, heh. She died when she had me. Made weird antics and amused people, so I got made tha’ royal Jester. Too tall and lanky and awkward, so they laughed at me for it. Not much after that. Lived me whole life in tha’ castle. Got lonely.”

“Sorry you have no parents.”

“Hey, it’s okay. We got somethin’ to bond over, hah!” Jamison chuckled. Mako supposed that was true, but still felt like shit. 

“Hey, Mako?” Jamison said, squeezing his big hand. Jamison licked his lips and stared deep into Mako’s mask, right into his eyes. “Ya think we are going to survive this?”

“Maybe we will, maybe we won’t.” He grabbed his small palm, kissing his knuckles and making Jamison flush. “Let’s enjoy it as if these were our last days.”

Jamison nodded and looked at the floor for a second before starting to scoot over to Mako’s side. He curled up in his grasp as Mako soothingly placed his big palm on the back of his hands.

The young man fell asleep, and Mako was feeling himself pretty sleepy. The sounds of the oceans were lulling him, gentle and peaceful.

A loud screech echoed through the air, piercing through Mako’s ears. Jamison immediately woke up, covering his ears and screaming in pain. Mako felt like whatever the noise was, it was drilling his brain out excruciatingly. 

The sound continued for several seconds, followed by a loud but not as painful roar. Mako stood up and stared into the sea, the water bubbling with intensity at the horizon. Something big and dark moved under the surface. 

The door to the kitchen was kicked open and Ophelia ran forward to the edge of the boat, staring at the huge mass under the water.

“Fuck,” she hissed. “Okay.”

“What is it?!” Jamison screeched just in time for the thing to move.

Its tentacles rose up slowly, dozens of different thickness. It looked like a mass of them, wiggling and alive, shining with daylight and dripping, screaming and hollering. It twitched and, even if it didn’t seem to have eyes, Mako felt like it was staring at them.

More tentacles popped out, and more, and then fucking more like the thing just didn’t end. Its tentacles reached up for the sky, countless feet up until they seemed to touch the clouds. 

“It’s the kraken.”

The mass of tentacles screamed and rushed forward.


	24. Black Obsidian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are we going to die?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Versus the Kraken
> 
> Hello!!!  
> First of all i am sorry it has taken me a while to update! I got too involved in another fic im writing, and for a while everything is slowing down a little- I am basically getting kind of a promotion at work!! And i am SUPER excited! but that also means that i am busy getting super busy, getting ready, running around, not only that but I was accepted to participate in the Roadrat Charity Zine! So keep an eye on that out!
> 
> BASICALLY, i've been pretty darn busy. So im pretty sorry i havent been updated fics! But here is, finally, the next maelstrom chapter. I hope y'all enjoy it!!
> 
> Shotout to my gf Trish who was my beta! love u bby!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Hope you like it!!

The giant mass of tentacles sped towards them like a cannonball. It parted the sea as it surged forward, water splashing at its sides as the creature moved. 

In a second, Mako moved towards the wheel of his ship, steering it to avoid the tentacles. The ship violently rocked to one side, throwing both Ophelia and Jamison to the floor. It would not be enough to avoid the upcoming monster.

“Ophelia!” he screamed. The witch immediately got the idea. She raised her arms, ordering the ocean to move along with them. The waves pushed them to the side, forcing the Sea Hog out of the way of the tentacles.

“Hang on!” he yelled, using all his strength to steer the ship. His muscles bulged as he kept her upright.

“It’s coming!”

They just barely managed to avoid the tentacles that passed by them, the force of the waves knocking them back. The knockback was so strong it took Mako off his feet and sent him falling to the deck as the ship rocked from one side to the other. 

“Fuck!” He clenched his teeth, standing up as fast as he could. He could barely keep his footing, running towards the wheel once more. 

Mako glanced at the tentacles, which seemed to have noticed their movements. They spread like a flower, moving towards them once again. There wasn’t enough wind for them to get out of the way fast enough.

“Ophelia! It’s coming! We need to get out of the way!”

“I’m working on it!” she yelled rawly, face tense and tight as she kept balance by wrapping her arm around the mast and raised her hand. He could see her fingertips glowing, followed by something pushing the ship forward and out of the wave. She was commanding the sea to help them.

“Mako!” Jamison screamed, hanging on to the railing for dear life and looking past him into the horizon. 

Mako looked back and saw the tentacles writhing awfully close by. One surged forward, but Ophelia twisted her hand, causing the waves to push them out of the way. She screamed in pain. Mako kept the ship steady as another tentacle followed from the other direction and Ophelia twisted her hand again to push the boat away. 

The process repeated several times, but the tentacles surrounded them on all sides. 

“Ophelia!”

“I’m _trying_ , you piece of shit!” Blood rolled out of her nostrils. It was taking a toll on her. “Keep her steady!”

Mako locked his muscles. Ophelia let go of the mast, slamming her glowing palms into the deck of the ship. It glowed beneath her, the water bubbling under the ship.

The water burst from under them like a waterfall, lifting the ship into the air just as the tentacles tried to grab them. The impulse was strong enough to launch them forward, far away from the tentacles. 

The boat’s speed increased with every second it fell and Mako was already dreading the worst for when it crashed against the water. In the seconds he had, he looked over to the deck; Ophelia was holding on to the mast and Jamison was holding on to the rail, dangerously close to the edge.

“Hang on!” he screamed, gripping the wheel like his life depended on it. Which it did. His knuckles went white from the pressure. “We are going to crash! Incoming!”

The moment it slammed against the water, it bounced back up before crashing down once again. The first hit was so strong it ripped Mako off the wheel of the ship and hurled him to the deck. When it bounced up he was lifted into the air, only to crash like a fat ragdoll when it came down once more. It kept moving violently from side to side to the point where he thought the ship would rip apart at any minute.

His body hurt all over, his vision fuzzy, but he knew he had to stand up. He heard a loud buzzing as he struggled to do so, his back feeling warm and sticky. He stood up and his eyes went straight to the deck. He couldn’t focus on anything, his instincts driving him forward. 

Ophelia was several feet away from the mast she had been hanging from. Her shoulder seemed to have dislocated and bruises decorated her. He looked over and, thank God, Jamison was on the deck. He hadn’t been thrown overboard. But he was lying very still on the wood, blood seeping from his head. 

Mako felt blood roll down the back of his head, too. Without thinking, he placed a meaty palm to it, dipping it under his mask. It stung awfully when he touched it, and he noticed a lot of blood on his palm when he brought it back. He recalled his head bouncing off the deck with the crashes. He was starting to feel dizzy. But he had to move on. He had to surge forward.

His body stiffened and locked up as he went over to the wheel. The handles he had grabbed before had been ripped clean, and now that he noticed it, his palms were full of splinters. 

“T-the kraken!”

Mako turned around. The tentacles had already caught up with and surrounded them. From the corner of his eye he saw Ophelia attempt to get them away once more, but she just continued bleeding from the face. 

“I can’t-”

One of the heavy, thick tentacles slammed into the ship’s deck, splinters and debris falling. The others started to grab at it, pull it apart, breach it and destroy the ship from every angle. 

It wasn’t until that moment that Mako’s mind caught up with him and he realized what was happening.

The Sea Hog was going down. 

Even though his entire body still burned and felt numb, Mako moved forward. He unsheathed his sword and approached the closest tentacle, hacking into it. It was a massive appendage, but after a few slashes it retreated for a bit, bleeding blue onto the ship. 

Mako moved forward, hacking and slashing into any tentacle that came fast. They seemed more occupied with bringing the ship down than him, even if he was stabbing them. Water was already seeping onto the deck by the time he made it to Jamison’s side.

“Jester!” he screamed, still stabbing at the thick tentacles, but even if they retreated for a few seconds they would come back like nothing had happened. “Jamison!”

The Jester shook, trying to prop himself up with his elbows. His hair was coated with blood, but the fact that he was moving lifted a weight off Mako’s chest.

Tentacles creeped onto the ship’s deck, pressing against it and splintering it. Wood popped out of place, cracking and breaking. 

“We need to go inside!” Ophelia screamed, being jostled around and trying to move towards the kitchen. “We have to-”

“It will sink us!”

“It wants the ship! It won’t completely destroy it; if we go inside we will be safe!”

“It’s _my_ ship! It’s the Sea Hog! I won’t let it take her!”

“You’re an imbecile!” Ophelia screamed just before she reached the kitchen, slipping inside and slamming the doors behind her. 

Meanwhile, Mako kept slashing at the tentacles. He wasn’t going to let that fucking octopus freak take _his_ ship. It was the Sea Hog. It was his ship. She belonged to him and Mako was not going to let any weird magical monster take her away from him. 

If he was to die defending his ship, so be it. 

The tentacles didn’t seem preoccupied with him, which honestly offended him. He slashed at everything in sight, blue blood spraying on his body as he hacked and slashed away at the tentacles attacking his ship. 

There were far too many however, big and powerful while he was a mere mortal. They would need more power, more explosive-

“Jamie!” He kept slashing at the tentacles, his attention focused on them. The young man seemed to be an expert at exploding things (he still had to ask him how the fuck he got that skill); if he gathered the gunpowder or made one of those Molotov cocktails… “Jamie, we need to explode-”

He turned around, sword still in hand and dripping blood. Jamison was still on the floor, propping himself up with his hands while blood dripped from his scalp onto the deck below him. His frame shook as he took short breaths.

“Jamie-”

“M’ okay!” he yelled. “I-I’m Okay! I’m fine! I-” He tried standing up but immediately fell to his knees, holding his head in his hand. “I-I”

His ship was the most important thing in his life. He knew every single splinter, nail, and board on the Sea Hog. He could not abandon her. It was part of him, an extension of his body. He was not going to abandon her. 

He was shadowed by the huge tentacles rising from the sea, tugging at and destroying his ship. Ophelia’s words echoed in his mind as he watched the thick appendages pull the mast apart. Even if he hacked, slashed, and stabbed them, they did not seem damaged. They didn’t care. The creature continued to devour. 

Mako wanted to get all the gunpowder he could and blow it up, but it was basically enveloping the ship. If the Sea Hog wasn’t destroyed in the explosion, they would be left defenseless in the sea without a way to repair it.

If it had been him alone, he would have rigged it to explode. He would have strapped himself to the boat and blown it to Kingdom Come, gone to Hell along with that creature. Destroyed it all. Think they got you? Bring everybody else down with you. The right way to die.

But it wasn’t him anymore. It wasn’t just him and only him. He didn’t know if Ophelia would survive (witch magic and all that), but Jamison was there. It was time Mako stopped thinking only for himself and started realizing that he was not alone anymore. 

He swallowed spit along with his pride. His body was burning with rage and shame. As a Captain, more than once he had had to make choices he did not want to but that were necessary for the sake of his crew. But nothing like this. And yet, here he was with that responsibility on his hands once more.

He could choose to fight or to run.

The shallow breathing of the man next to him reached his ears as he spat blood on the deck, whimpering while he held his throbbing head in his hands.

He chose to run. 

 

Mako sheathed his sword, running over to Jamison and wrapping one arm around his skinny waist. He placed the man under his arm as he ran towards the dining room in which Ophelia had holed herself up. The splinters flew through the air, some of them painfully embedding themselves in Mako’s skin. He hissed, but moved forward as the ship continued getting destroyed. As he reached the kitchen he almost kicked down the doors, slamming into them harshly.

“Close the fucking door!” Ophelia screamed. Mako did so quickly, feeling anger at having to retreat, but he knew it was for the best. 

“Jamie.” He carefully jostled the young man in his grip. He shook a little and Mako dragged him over to one of the room’s tables. “Please say something.”

“I’m- real dizzy, mate,” he whispered, and snorted softly. Mako made him lay down on the table, trying to ignore all the sounds coming from outside.

“Are you sure we will be okay?” he yelled at Ophelia.

The woman jumped out from behind the kitchen. There was some blood on her face from when they crashed into the ocean, her eyes tired and defeated. 

“Yes. It wants us alive. They will hurt the ship enough so it can’t sail on her own, but it will leave us alive.”

Mako heard crashing and creaking from outside. “You better hope you are right.”

She just shrugged, making her way towards the table.

“M’ fine mate, really. Just- dizzy. And real tired.”

“Don’t sleep. You have to stay awake.” Mako said as he looked over the young Jester. He was no medic, but he knew a concussion when he saw one. One of his old crewmates, Bort, once fell off the mast of the ship and onto the deck. Hurt his head real bad; Mako recalled seeing his head bounce. He went to sleep it off and Bort never woke up. 

“I-I-” He was already starting to drift off to sleep. Mako basically snapped his fingers in front of the Jester’s face to prevent him from falling asleep.

“Jamie, you _have_ to stay awake. If you sleep you will die. Do you understand? You will die if you sleep. Stay. Awake.” 

Jamison nodded lazily, but Mako could tell he was having a lot of trouble actually doing so. Mako couldn’t blame him, but he was getting extremely worried. Half his face was coated in his own blood that dripped down his neck and shoulder, his dyed hair stuck in clumps of dried blood. 

“There should be some bandages in the kitchen.” He turned to Ophelia. “Please bri-”

“Fuck off.” She didn’t even emote or anything. She just stared at him, blank expression on her face. 

Mako felt all the anger from the ship bubble up inside him, the anger of seeing Jamison so hurt and covered in blood and on the brink of death, anger because technically this was all her fucking fault. If she had given him the map of the stupid king’s castle at the beginning, none of this would have happened. 

It all spilled over. 

He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air, his fingers gripping her neck hard. His other arm was cradling a bloodied Jamison against his chest, mixing the red blood with the blue. He felt his teeth clench and more anger build up under his skin as Ophelia simply stared at him, no emotion, expressionless. She wasn’t even gasping for air. 

“I have no time for your stupid bullshit.”

“That makes two of us, Rutledge.”

“You are a miserable human being.”

“I stopped being human a long time ago.”

Mako clenched his teeth

He could kill her and he knew it. He could just take the heart he still had on his person and squish it. Then Ophelia would die. Dead. Forever. No more fucking sea witch. Bye bye.

...And yet a soft part of him told him not to. Not yet. Maybe later, but not yet. She was the only one who knew what was beyond and the things that they would encounter. He couldn’t kill her yet; he needed her.

Or at least that was what the disgusting soft part of him said, making up excuses as to why he should not kill her. 

He dropped her. She landed on the ground without saying a thing, standing up and silently moving to the corner of the room before sitting down and staring at her feet. Mako decided to ignore her. He would have to get the supplies himself.

“Jamie.” He nudged him. The young man’s eyes were glazed, tired and struggling to stay awake. “Please stay awake. Stay awake. I will get medicine, okay?”

“Y-yeah. I’m…I’m awake mate.”

“Tell me a joke. Come on. Tell me one of your jokes.”

“Heh…Did…did ya hear the one…” Mako gave a kiss to his forehead, lowering him down on the table as he went to seek the medical supplies. “With the King?”

“No, tell me.” He moved as fast as he could, gathering the things from the emergency supply they had in the kitchen. Cooking accidents, etcetera. “Tell me about the joke with the King.”

“Why did…the King cross the road?” He laughed at his own words as Mako approached him with the bandages and medicine. Mako carefully cleaned all the blood off his pale face, taking the makeup along with it. It left his face awfully raw. Unmasked. 

“Why?” he whispered as he cleaned the blood off his hair, managing to find the source of the bleeding. It was a big cut; not fatal, but still scary-looking. 

“Because, well-ah, fuck!” He cursed and winced at the alcohol being pressed against the wound, wiggling and hissing.

“I’m sorry, I’m cleaning it.” 

“Fuck! Okay…okay. H-heh. Well, he uh, he crossed the road because,” he started laughing at the punchline of his own joke without even saying said punchline, “the treaty to stop Law 85 was on the other side!”

He started hollering and for a moment Mako thought Jamison was having a stroke. 

“It was a real popular one amongst the ministers, I tell ya. Law 85 was a law to offer, ya know, benefits to merchants and farmers. Basically so they could, uh, live more c-comfortably. So of course he said no. Heh. He got real mad about that one. Got a scar from the lashes on my hips!”

He laughed once more, although Mako just felt more anger deep in his belly. Well, at least Jamison wasn’t having a stroke. 

“Sorry. That one was too…weird. What about this one: what is the King’s favorite spice?”

“What?” he asked as he finished bandaging up Jamison’s head. 

“Gold flakes!”

Now both of them laughed, Jamison hissing a little at the pain in his head. His laughter washed away Mako’s anger.

“I’m… feeling a bit-”

“Don’t sleep,” Mako repeated. “Don’t-”

“He can sleep,” Ophelia said from the corner she was at, staring at them. “He will be fine if he sleeps. He won’t die. You should let him rest.”

“Why should I trust you?”

Ophelia pointed at his hip. Her heart still hung from the velvet bag. She seemed to be very well aware he could kill her at any given moment.

Fine. He would trust her. It’s not like he had much else he could do.

He took off his shark’s mask, the blood inside of it already dried. He placed it on the ground and rolled his neck as he stared at Jamison, who was on the verge of passing out. The sounds of the tentacles dragging the ship away could be heard from outside along with the ship’s own rocking.

“Hey.” Jamison smiled as he stared at Mako. 

“Hey. How are you feeling?”

“Like shit, mate.” His smile disappeared soon enough. “Sorry about the ship. Sorry about…all this.”

Mako shrugged.

“What are we gonna do next?”

“I…don’t know.” If he was being honest, Mako hadn’t had time to catch up with the situation. He had absolutely zero idea of what would happen to them now. 

“Are we going to die?”

“I won’t let us.”

Jamison lifted his arms up, cupping Mako’s stubby face with them and bringing him close. Their lips touched, kissing deeply for few minutes. The blond was so exhausted he basically fell asleep while they were making out. Mako let him, sitting next to the table and rubbing his face with his hands. 

Everything had gone to Hell and he had no idea what to do. He wanted to say that he had a plan of sorts, but he would be lying. He just hoped something would come up, but his head was buzzing in pain, exhausted, terrified. 

“What now?” he asked Ophelia, who still sat in the corner. 

“It will take us to his lair. There is nothing else to do.”

“How long until we get there?”

She shrugged. “Should be there by morning, I think.”

By morning. Okay. He could think of something by then.

He crossed his arms on the table and placed his head on them, taking a deep breath as exhaustion overcame him. From the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw the wound on Jamison’s right leg from the first time the kraken attacked grow and move, but he figured it was just his own exhaustion. 

Despite the sound of the tentacles dragging them to their perdition, Mako fell asleep, hoping to be able to find a way to fix all of this.


	25. Emerald

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “ _I’ve been looking for you._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They find a familiar face
> 
> HELLO!! another update!! again im sorry updates have been sarce- life has been SUPER crazy and tired and busy. I've been having a very hard couple of months both at work and emotionally so !!! but here it is!!! another chapter! Im excited about this one!!!
> 
> Shot out to my gf Trish who is my beta! thank you bby
> 
> I hope y'all like it! Thank you for reading !

Mako was woken by the sound of something crunching near them. It was loud, making him jump out of his seat and fall onto the floor with a loud thud.

Everything stayed still for about five seconds, and before anyone could react, the ship was dropped from the tentacles’ clutches. 

“Shit!” Mako screamed as they plummeted. Several seconds later, the ship landed on _something_. It crunched, rocks piercing it and sprouting at their feet.

“Holy shit!” Jamison screamed, trying to not be impaled by the sharp rocks. 

Somehow, the ship wasn’t completely destroyed. From the looks of it, however, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to fix it. But Mako didn’t want to think the Sea Hog was lost. He still had hope.

“Seems we’re here.” Ophelia stood up in the corner of the room, scratched and bruised. 

“I’ll check it out,” Mako said quickly as he stood up, making his way towards the door to the deck.

“Wait, you can’t-” Before Ophelia could even finish her sentence, Mako was already at the door, going outside. 

The first things he noticed were the dozens of wrecked ships around him. All of them were completely destroyed, putrid wood and algae overrunning them. The sky was completely black as well. Not black like the night, or from clouds; just black. It smelled like rotten bodies.

“Hm.” Mako licked his lips. The mast was slightly split, but he still could get a good view from it if he tried. He attempted to climb, but the moment he tried, the mast creaked even more and threatened to break further. He was far too heavy. 

“Whoa, holy shit,” Jamison called behind him. The young Jester stared at his surroundings and at all the ships. “This a ship graveyard?”

“This is where the Soothsayer takes his prisoners. The ship graveyard,” said Ophelia.

“Jamison, get up the mast. Need to see if there is a way outta here.”

Jamison nodded, already moving towards the pole. Mako could see he had a little difficulty climbing the pole, but he just thought it was general exhaustion. Once he made it to the top, he looked around. 

“Do you see something?”

“It’s real foggy. Can’t see past a few miles. Can only see wrecked ships, mate.”

Mako sighed, looking around. His ship was pierced by rocks, completely ruined. There was no way he could get the Sea Hog out of it without destroying it further. 

“I don’t know what happens next. If he…if he will leave us here to die, or if he will come to us. I don’t know.” 

Ophelia’s words were empty to him as he laid eyes on his ruined ship. 

“Mako?” Jamison limped towards him. “What do we do?”

“It doesn’t matter if we move forward or not. This is it, this is the-”

“Would you just shut up?” Jamison interrupted Ophelia. The witch looked at him, shocked, and snarled back.

“I’ve been telling you this entire fucking time that we couldn’t fight him and I was right. We are all going to die and it’s your fault.”

Mako didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to leave the Sea Hog behind; it was his ship. It was his life. But if he stayed, it could mean death. But they had no idea where they were going, so that could be death, too.

He wished he knew what to do.

“We-”

He was interrupted by the loud sound of someone landing on the ship. The three of them turned quickly to the source as the figure, who landed on their feet, rose to their full height. 

“Oh, no,” Ophelia sighed softly as Mako recognized the figure.

Captain Anne stared at them with hatred in her eyes. She looked tired, slightly wounded, and _infuriated_ , but Mako noticed she was just staring at Ophelia. 

“Ophelia.” Her voice was stern.

“H-hello.” 

Mako had never heard Ophelia so…shy. Normally she just screamed and threw insults at him. 

Anne was furious, but she quickly turned to Mako. “You ruined everything.”

“Excuse me?”

“If you hadn’t told me you had _her_ , the Soothsayer wouldn’t have-”

“If you hadn’t chased me all across the ocean and tried to kill me and my crew, I wouldn’t have done that,” Mako barked back. 

“If you hadn’t stolen my property, then I wouldn’t have come after you.”

“Your-”

The mirror. The entire fucking reason they were in this stupid situation. Ophelia had told him to bring the mirror to her and Mako had done so. It was Anne’s haunting grounds, her property.

“She told me to do it.” He pointed at Ophelia.

“You…you told him to _steal_ from me?”

“I wanted to have a map of the King’s Castle. I told her this and she told me that if I brought her the mirror, she would give me what I wanted.”

Anne moved forward, outright furious. “You knew that was my territory. You knew the mirror is mine. I showed it to you. You knew. Why did you send him to me? Why do you send someone to _my property_?!”

“I wanted to kill him!”

“Oh, that’s better all of a sudden. You’re using me as your fucking tool to kill people you don’t like, I suppose.”

Jamison nudged Mako gently on the hand, prompting the Captain to look down at him.

“This is very awkward.”

It was, extremely so. Ophelia and Anne had been lovers at one point before Anne broke it off and Ophelia cursed them both. No wonder Anne was so angry, especially after Ophelia sent Mako to her haunting grounds to steal from her. He would be furious, too. 

“We haven’t seen each other in decades and this is how you greet me?” Ophelia shouted.

“You cursed me! You sent him to steal from me! Because of you, the Red Tide was taken! Do you not understand anything?!”

“Hey,” Mako called, casually. Both women stopped and stared at him, angry that he had interrupted their fight.

“What,” Anne hissed through gritted teeth, “do you _want_.”

“Are you going to kill us or did you just come here to yell at her.”

If Anne answered that she was going to kill them then he would laugh and kill her, which he already wanted to do, but he figured it was best to ask. 

“Because I didn’t fulfill my duties for the Soothsayer, he stripped me of my crew and my ship. He told me to come to you and bring all of you to him. Otherwise he will kill me.”

She turned to Ophelia. “How…why are you here? You have been able to hide yourself from him for so long, and now-”

“He marked them.” She pointed at Mako and Jamison, “They didn’t want to run and hide, so they decided to try to kill him.”

“Kill him. The Soothsayer,” Anne said in a deadpan voice, as if she was trying to comprehend the stupidity.

“He is an imbecile,” Ophelia added.

“But you accompanied him here.”

“I forced her to,” Mako interrupted, “Told her I would kill her if she didn’t. She has to do what I tell her to.”

Anne looked at him, confused. 

“I have her heart. She bails and I kill her.”

“You…have her heart?” Her brow knitted and she stared back at Ophelia. 

“When she cursed you, her heart got scooped out. I have it now.” Mako chuckled lowly. Anne just stared at him and back at Ophelia, then looked down at the floor. She surely had something on her mind, but said nothing.

“...Understood.” She took a deep breath. “We need to get moving-”

“Excuse me?” Mako said.

“To the Soothsayer. We have-”

“What makes you think we will go with you?”

Anne stared at him from head to toe, and then back at his mask. “Are you saying you are going to fight me?”

“I am saying that we are not coming with you.”

“You are really not in a position to decide that.”

In one slick movement, Mako grabbed his hook, piercing Anne’s torso with it. Thick blue sap poured out of the wound and stained her clothes. The woman looked at the tip sprouting from her stomach and, without reacting, stared up at Mako.

Without breaking eye contact, she grabbed the chain attached to the hook and yanked it towards her with inhuman strength. Mako made the mistake of keeping hold of the chain and was yanked along with it, crashing against the floor.

“I can’t die.” Anne grabbed the huge hook, un-piercing herself and throwing it to the ground. It clattered loudly, covered in thick blue blood.

“Fuckin’-” Jamison reacted and tried to punch her with his metallic arm, but Anne just grabbed him, stopping him and punching him hard in the stomach. Jamison dropped to his knees, gasping for air and clutching his belly. 

“Are we done?”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, you bitch.” Mako stared at her as he stood up, showing off his greater size in an attempt to intimidate her.

But it didn’t work. She stared up at him without any fear. “I can, and will, kill you, Mako Rutledge. If you want to survive a few minutes more, then come with me. If not…” She pulled a sword from her side, sharp and glistening even through the black sky. “…be my guest.”

“H-hey! Hey hey hey hey! No need to be so hasty!” Jamison pushed himself between the two of them, dangerously close to Anne’s sword. “N-no need to kill each other!”

“You set my ship on fire. Why should I listen to you, clown?” She pressed her sword to Jamison’s throat, but the blond barely even reacted.

“Let’s talk, eh? Ye are gonna take us to yer boss, who will probably kill us three, and ye get to live. But is it really living, sheila?”

“Get to the point.”

“We came here ‘cause we want to kill the Soothsayer to stop ‘im from killing us. If ya boss dies, then ye are free. Don’t ye want to be free again? If we die, then ya boss will keep ye as a slave for eternity. Is that really livin’?” He smiled wide, white teeth showing. “Do ya really want to spend the rest of eternity bein’ someone’s servant?”

Anne stared at him intensely, her weapon still raised. “You want me to help you kill him?”

“If we succeed, it would be yer freedom, lass. Ain’t that what ye want?”

“Yet if we fail, which will probably happen, we will all die,” she scoffed. “So, that is your offer? Freedom or death?”

“Ain’t it worth tryin’?”

“A terrible death or living? You offer nothing, clown.”

“Anne,” Ophelia softly spoke. “We can end this.”

“By dying?” She lowered her sword, full attention on the witch. “We survived for so long and you just want us to die? You, who has hidden for so many years, suddenly want to give up and get slaughtered like an animal?”

“You call this living, Anne?! Serving him? Me, having to hide for so long? I don’t care. I don’t care if I get killed. I am tired of running away.” She took a step forward towards the Captain. “Aren’t you?”

“You have no right to speak. You turned me into this.” 

“I know and I-I’m so sorry. It was terrible, what I did. I am so sorry. You don’t deserve this. You never deserved any of this.”

“Do you really expect me to forgiv-”

“No! Of course not. I just-I want to help you. I want to help you get out of this situation.”

“You think you can help me?! After what you did?! After you turned me into, into this?!”

“I want to atone for what I did!” Ophelia screamed, the sea beneath them stirring at her words. “I am sorry! I shouldn’t have done it. I knew as I was doing it I shouldn’t have. But I did, because I’m a shitty person. I was a shitty person and that’s why you left me, and that’s why I cursed you! Look at me! I cursed myself, too. I want to help you! You don’t deserve this! I don’t want your forgiveness, I want to undo what I did!” Tears started to spill out of her eyes.

Anne just stared at her, motionless. Her brow furrowed in concern. “I didn’t think you were a shitty person, Ophelia.”

“Then…why did you leave?”

“I am not a good person, Ophelia! I…I shouldn’t have left. Not like that. Not the way I did. I should have talked to you.”

“Then why-”

“ _Excuse me,_ ” Mako interrupted rather rudely. Both women stared daggers at him. “We are in Limbo right now, in a ship graveyard. Will you help us kill the Soothsayer or not?”

Anne closed her eyes and took a very deep breath. She opened her eyes, staring at her feet. “I will take you to him. You…can try.”

“Will you help?” Ophelia asked, her voice low and gentle.

“I promise to not try and kill you when the time comes.”

“Oh, what a nice sentiment,” the Jester chimed in. Once again, both women shot ugly stares at him, but said nothing.

“I wish I was stupid enough to have your conviction. Let’s go.”

Without saying anything more, they moved on.

 

“So why did you leave?”

They had been moving for a while now. They jumped from ship to ship, making their way to the Soothsayer. Apart from Jamison and Mako talking to each other and shooting questions at Anne (which she did not answer), there wasn’t much going on. Neither Ophelia nor Anne spoke, at least until Ophelia asked her why she broke up with her.

“...”

“You said you didn’t leave because I was a shitty person.”

“You…you weren’t shitty,” Anne sighed as she jumped onto debris from an old ship. The wood was rotting and could give out at any minute. Mako was very careful to not fall through it. “At least not until you cursed me.”

“I,” Ophelia gulped, “I thought you left because you hated me. Because I was shitty.”

“Why did you think that?” 

“You told me you couldn’t do this anymore. That it was over. You said you couldn’t be with me and then you disappeared. How was I supposed to take that? Of course I thought it was because you hated me.”

“I didn’t-Ophelia,” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t break up with you because of you. I am not the perfect person you think I am.”

They jumped towards another ruined ship. The silence was thick as they made their way.

“...I left because…I didn’t want to have any ties with the land. The other Captains, the men, they all were more respected. They were seen as ‘better’ than me. They all had families and children and…I wanted to be seen as an equal to them. I wanted to be respected. I wanted to be able to get out there when they wanted me to and to have no ties to this land. To be prepared to die when I had to. No strings attached. Ready for anything. I wanted to just be _better_.

“I thought this was what would make them finally respect me, climbing through the ranks. This is why I left. You weren’t a shitty person. I don’t care that you are a witch. I never cared about that. I left because I thought it would give me more status as a Captain. I guess I got my wish. I am one of the most feared creatures on the ocean. But…” She kicked a small crab into the ocean. “…at what cost?”

Anne kept walking, but Ophelia stopped. When the Captain realized that she had stopped moving forward, she turned to face her.

“You left because you wanted to climb through the ranks? Because you wanted to be seen as capable among men?”

“Ophelia, you don’t-”

“Why didn’t you talk to me? Why didn’t-you just disappeared! Left! Told me you didn’t want to see me again! What the fuck is your problem?!”

“L-ladies, can we move forward-” Jamison nervously said, but was immediately interrupted.

“You knew how important it was for me! It was my life, Ophelia! I had to make a decision! It was a shitty thing and-”

“It was really shitty, what the fuck?! You had no right-”

“You had _no_ right cursing me! Cursing us!”

“I loved you, Anne! I’m so sorry, I’m so fucking sorry-”

“I loved you too, Ophelia! I-”

The sea started to shake violently beneath them. The ships started to sink around them with a metallic sound.

“What the fuck?! What’s happening?!” Jamison shouted as he lost his footing. Mako grabbed him by the arm, keeping him close to his side as everything kept violently shaking.

“The Soothsayer, he-”

There was an absence of everything. Light, air, sound, sea. Everything was gone, replaced by the black nothingness. The four of them remained in it, time nonexistent.

Mako felt like he was choking, lungs burning. He kept Jamison at his side, gripping him, making sure to anchor to him. He was his lifeline, proof that he wasn’t dead yet, because it felt like he had died and gone to Hell. 

He felt the grip of something cold and skeletal wrap around him; a huge hand, that of a giant. Skinny and grey, it wrapped around him and Jamison like they were nothing but toys. Another giant hand wrapped around both Ophelia and Anne, lifting them all into the sky.

“ _Ophelia_.”

The voice Mako heard when the Kraken attacked was back. It burrowed into his mind and made him want to cry out in anguish it hurt so much, but he felt stuck in time, unable to even cry.

“ _I’ve been looking for you._ ”

“No! She-” Anne interrupted, somehow speaking even though the mere thought of doing so made Mako’s lung burn.

“ _I will deal with you later._ ” He let go of Anne and she disappeared into the nothingness.

“ _With you, as well,_ ” he said to Mako.

And suddenly he was falling through nothing, unable to scream or breathe or do anything but fall into the abyss. He still held Jamison close, wrapping his arms around him as they fell into nothing.


	26. Blue Kianite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Guess what, Rutledge. We are all already dead.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They take in their surroundings.
> 
> Hello!!! Gosh, ok so,
> 
> This chapter took me a while to write, Life has been going crazy. This fic has been going on FOREVER, i haven't abandoned it, I promise- in fact, i am so pumped, I will keep updating this fic until we finish it! I won't upload another one until we finish this one. it should be about 3 or so chapters more. We're doing this, baby!! we're gonna finish this fic!!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy this! Shot out to my gf Trish who is my beta! love you bby!
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope y'all like it!

It was silent.

No, it was more like a total lack of sound whatsoever. In the nothingness it felt like no time was passing, and yet it also felt like about hundred years had passed. 

When he finished falling, it didn’t feel like he landed on something. It felt like things just started to exist around him, breaking his fall. He landed softly, as if he had been suspended in the air and a floor materialized under him.

It took Mako about a minute to realize he wasn’t nowhere; he was someplace now. He took a huge breath, opening his eyes.

He was lying on wooden floor in a wooden room. He could hear the sea outside. They were on a ship, in the brig he guessed from the bars at the other side of the room. There was nothing apart from that; the floor was bare, and as he sat up he looked around to find-

Jamison was in the other corner of the room, too. He was unmoving, prompting Mako to crawl towards him, huge palm grabbing and turning the young man towards him.

The clown was unconscious. Mako pressed his big fingers against his neck, but found a pulse immediately. He was just sleeping.

By now, his makeup was completely smudged out. There were traces of white paint here and there and his hair dye was washed out as well. 

Mako let him rest. Instead of waking him up, he stood to inspect the room. He tried to gauge how strong the bars were; maybe he could destroy them and get them out of there.

He wrapped his hands around the bars and tried to pull at them, but they didn’t move. He couldn’t recognize the material they were made out of, but it was stronger than metal.   
Mako pressed his face against the bars, trying to see outside of his cell. The hallway was decorated with more cells. The ones he could see seemed to be empty, but he couldn’t see the rest. 

He retreated, sighing while trying to figure out what to do. His weapons were gone, too. He had nothing to defend himself with. He couldn’t take down the bars. Maybe if he used enough force he could tear apart the wood of the cell and make a way out.

Mako attempted this, trying to rip out the wood from the walls with all his might. It was as if the wood was instead stone; no matter how much Mako strained, it wouldn’t budge. In a last act of desperation he punched it, but while the wood didn’t get damaged his hand hurt harshly, bruising almost instantly.

“Fuck-”

“Mako?”

He turned and saw Jamison sitting up on the floor, staring at him with confusion. The jester turned his face around, inspecting the room they were in. There was barely any light, but he could still see Jamison’s frame in the dim room.

“We stuck here, huh?”

“Tried to break the bars. Too strong. Wood doesn’t budge either; it’s like stone.” 

“You know where we are?”

“It’s…I don’t know. Last thing I remember was nothingness and the Soothsayer.”

“Oh.”

They keep quiet for a minute, uncomfortable and dripping with anxiety.

“He caught us, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“...Ya think he is gonna kill us? Maybe he will curse us, like he did with that captain.” He looked down at his feet. “I don't know if I’d rather be cursed or die.”

“Don’t think like that, we don’t know what he will do.” Mako sighed as he approached Jamison and sat down next to him. The young man took a deep breath and leaned against Mako’s side. 

“But we probably won’t survive it,” Jamison said.

Mako said nothing. It was the truth. Whatever happened now, it would be terrible. Jamison was right; maybe he was going to curse them to live forever, but he wasn’t sure if he would rather die than be cursed.

What was the point of living forever if it was a life full of misery?

“Sorry,” Mako basically whispered, so low at first he thought Jamison didn’t hear him. But the blond looked at him.

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry. I got us into this. If it wasn’t for my men kidnapping you, you wouldn’t be here waiting to be killed.”

“Nah.” Jamison snuggled up on Mako’s side, his face pressing against his pectoral. “I had plenty of chances to love. I didn’t ‘cus I wanted to stick with ya and help ye. Sorry ya didn’t get the king’s treasure.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Guess not.”

 

The minutes turned into hours and the hours into days. Or at least, that’s what Mako thought. There was no way to tell how much time had passed. They didn’t feel hunger or tiredness, as if they were in a suspended state. He would pace around the room, look outside and call for someone, anyone. But his voice echoed through the empty halls and he would go back to lying on the floor next to Jamison.

The Jester was fidgety, but Mako thought it was just nerves. He would constantly pace around the room, cling to the walls and the bars, but it didn’t help. Eventually Mako would envelop him with his arms to calm him down.

“What are we going to do now?” Jamison asked in the darkness.

“I don’t know.” 

“I mean, there’s gotta be some way to get outta ‘ere, right? You can figure somethin’ out. Ye are Mako Rutledge, the terror of the sea! Ya…can think of something, right?”

“I never thought it would end like this.”

“Hey.” 

Mako looked down at him, only for Jamison to wrap his arm around his neck, hoisting himself up and reaching to kiss Mako on the snout of his mask. Mako took it off, resuming the kiss proper. He could feel Jamison’s hot body and the heartbeat in his small chest. 

“We’re gonna die.”

“Probably.”

“We should use the little time we got, eh?”

The Jester was already pawing at his thick neck, leaving small bites as his lithe body pressed against Mako’s gut. He was unnaturally hot, but Mako just brushed it off, thinking it was the heat of the cell and his libido. 

“Okay,” the pirate breathed out, his cock already getting erect from Jamison’s hot breaths and movements. 

Jamison crawled off him, pulling Mako’s pants low enough to reveal his cock. He used his flesh hand to grab it, pump it while his lips caressed the underside of it going up to his tip, hot tongue pressing against his hole. Mako took deep breaths, low rumbles coming from him as Jamison continued to tease his dick. 

He closed his eyes when he felt Jamison’s lips take his tip, tongue pressing against it while his hand pumped him more, squeezing slightly. Jamison started to bob his head up and down, hollowing his cheeks occasionally.

Mako pressed his heels against the ground for leverage, his big palm caressing Jamison’s blond hair tenderly. His breaths were fast, sucking air through his teeth while his head pressed against the wall behind him. 

It was a matter of time before he came, unable to warn Jamison. The jester choked up a little with the cum, but quickly swallowed most of it with some dripping from his lips. He had little finesse; rather than do some foreplay or anything, Jamison just jumped to sucking dick and finishing Mako off.

However, Mako preferred things a little bit slower. He pushed Jamison down slightly, leading him to lay with his back on the floor. He pulled down Jamison’s pants just barely until the young man’s dick was released. With one meaty palm he pinned Jamison’s torso, tongue licking down his thigh while savouring the giggles and panting from the younger man. 

Mako took his time, massaging Jamison’s milky thighs and pressing kisses against the skin, before starting to kiss the base from his dick. He pressed his nose against Jamison’s blond pubes, noting how hot his body felt. 

He wrapped his lips around Jamison’s cock, slowly bobbing his head. The way Jamison panted and whispered Mako’s name was music to the pirate’s ears.   
It didn’t take too long for Jamison to come. The young man silently screamed, his back arching and his body stiffening while his seed spurted straight down Mako’s mouth. 

He didn’t mind. He swallowed it all just as Jamison had done. The blond kept panting on the ground, taking deep breaths as he seemed to be lulled into sleep.

“Hey.” He patted his thigh, thick fingers grabbing at Jamison’s pants to pull them up once more. 

The corner of his eye noticed a bruise down on Jamison’s right thigh. Mako lowered his pants more to investigate. 

Jamison’s right leg was bruised; no, not bruised. Bruises didn’t look like this. It looked like something thick and black was growing, spreading through it. He had several cuts around his thigh from which the blackness seemed to originate.

“Jamie-”

The Jester was asleep. His skin was sweaty, far too hot and red. He placed a hand on Jamison’s forehead and he could feel the fever.

Fuck.

It didn’t look like normal gangrene or any other disease Mako had encountered in the past. It seemed magic. Whatever it was, he needed medical attention immediately.

And yet there was no one around to help. Mako stood up and attempted to open the cell once more by tearing out the bars. However he couldn’t; they wouldn’t budge no matter how much he tried. 

“Fuck!” he screamed, yelling out into the empty hallway. “Fuck! Fuck! Get us out of here, get us the fucking-”

“Hey.”

A calm voice called out. Mako turned around, but Jamison was still out of it on the floor. They were the only ones in there, however.

“Shut the fuck up,” the voice called out once more. Mako recognized it the second time. 

“Daniels? Where are…”

There was a soft knock coming from the wall. Mako approached the source of the sound, knocking it in turn. “There?”

“Yes.” She sounded… exhausted.

“I thought we were alone.”

“Clearly not.”

“Is Ophelia with you?”

“No. She…The Soothsayer must have taken her. I don’t know where.”

“We need to get out of here. Jamison needs medical attention, he-”

“He will die anyways. So what. Maybe this way is better; he dies instead of being tortured for eternity. He won’t have to be some asshole’s slave.”

“I won’t let him die.”

“Guess what, Rutledge. We are all already dead.”

“Not good enough for me.”

Anne took a deep breath from her cell. “It doesn’t matter what is good enough or not for you. We won’t get out of this. This is it. We will all die.”

“I can’t let us die like this. It…it’s my fault we’re here. I was the one that decided we should confront the Soothsayer. It’s my fault this is happening.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to live with it for the rest of your cursed life.”

Mako said nothing for a few seconds, looking down at his calloused hands. 

“You think you’re the only one with problems? The only one that doesn’t want to die? Look at Ophelia. Look at _me_. All of this because of a stupid breakup. And what is it that I wanted? Fame? Money? Power? Look at where that got me.”

He heard shuffling from the other room. “Anne, we need to-”

“That mirror you stole. My mirror. I used to stare at it for hours on end. I was so fixated on it. You stole it, so you should know it shows the thing you desire the most, right? Do you know what I saw when I stared at it?”

She hit the wall with her fist, and Mako could feel the wall shaking a little. “I saw her, after all these years.”

He had the mirror, didn’t he? He should still have it in one of the satchels at his hip, along with Ophelia’s heart. Unless it was broken, that is. He dug around his belt and found it, still intact. Magic, he guessed.

“What is it that you want, Mako Rutledge? Why did you come here? What is it that you truly, truly desire so much that you decided to come here to die?”

What was it, anyways? At first it was the treasure. Then revenge. Wanting to get his ship back. Wanting to survive. Wanting to prove that he could kill the Soothsayer. But now? What was it that he really wanted?

He took the mirror in his hands, shaking. He took a deep breath and stared at it. 

 

He saw nothing. 

 

“I see nothing,” he replied, staring at the mirror which showed nothing but his sad reflection. 

“Happened to me, too. Happens when you refuse to see what you really want.”

“Then what’s the point? I don’t know what it is that I desire.”

“Maybe you know but you refuse to acknowledge it.”

“That’s stupid.”

He looked over to where Jamison was. The young man was still sweating, unmoving and sick. “We need to get out of here, Anne. Jamison is ill. He-”

“Can I ask you something?” 

“No. We need to get out of here.”

“Answer my question and I will get us out. I can get us out.”

Mako stood up instantly, furious. “ _What?_ Why haven’t you? You are stuck here and you can get out, and you don’t? Why would you-”

“Answer my question.”

Mako took a very deep breath. “What?”

“The…Her heart. Ophelia’s heart. You have it?” Her voice was low, full of doubt.

“Yes.”

“Where did you find it?”

“It was inside her cave. It was wrapped in a bag. I still have it with me.”

“How do you know it’s hers?”

Mako found the question odd. It wasn’t like they just found hearts in random places. “Tried to crush it. She freaked out and did as I ordered. Figured she would die if I destroyed it.”

“...I see. I will help you get out.”

Mako wanted to be sarcastic and ask her why the sudden change of heart, but he felt it was something he shouldn’t really complain about it. 

“These cells are magic. You will never be able to open them. They can’t really be opened by keys, either.”

“How can they be opened?”

“He has other slaves, like me. The Soothsayer marks them so they can open the cells. Keys aren’t necessary.”

“Can you open it?”

“I could have when I was marked, but he must have taken my mark away or disabled it, so I can no longer open it. We will have to find one of his other slaves and use them to open the cell.”

“How? We’ve been here for a very long time and I haven’t seen anyone around.” 

“Well, then we will have to seek them out.”

Mako heard a horrible ripping, crunching noise on the other side. A wet, disgusting sound followed by a hiss. He quickly ran over to the bars just in time to see an arm fly from the adjacent cell and hit the ground with a wet slap. 

“What the _fuck_ -”

More horrible crunching/ripping sounds were heard as Anne hissed and howled in pain. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m getting -out! Out of here!” she howled, one ripping noise echoing through the area. 

He couldn’t see anything apart from the pool of neon pink that leaked from the cell. Something crawled through the bars, getting out of the cell. 

Anne’s torso, headless and with only one arm, squeezed itself through the bars. Mako could only see a brief part of it from his position. The torso grabbed the other arm that was thrown at first, shoving it into its correct arm socket. Mako watched it scab over, coral growing out of the wound to reattach the arm like nothing had happened. 

The torso returned to the cell and he watched it retrieve Daniels’ lower body. Once more it just jammed it against her torso as the coral did its work. In the meantime, the headless body went to reach for one final thing: Anne’s head. 

It bled from the mouth and nose, but the eyes stared at Mako as she reattached her own head, taking a deep breath when the neck and head reconnected, standing up and stretching as she got rid of the extra coral. 

“It’s the only way I can pass through the bars.” Blood spilled from her mouth as she spoke, but she didn’t seem to acknowledge it. 

“Does it hurt?”

“Yes. Excruciating pain.” She walked over to Mako’s cell and saw Jamison on the floor. 

“He’ll die.” 

“That’s why we need to get him out of here.”

“Yes.” She bit her lip. “I’ll come back.”

She ran off. As far as Mako knew, she wouldn’t come back for them. She would just leave, because she had absolutely no obligation to return. Why would she?

There was nothing he could do but trust her. 

“Hey.”

Mako turned around and saw Jamison sitting up, dragging himself to rest against the wall. He approached him, sitting down next to him.

“Hey. You’re sick.” Mako pointed at Jamison’s right leg.

“Yeah…it’s the one that got snagged by the kraken. Must have gotten infected with somethin’.”

“We’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” Mako said even though he was pretty worried at this point.

“How? We can’t get outta here.”

“Anne was in the other cell. She managed to get out and went to get something to unlock oursl.”

“Wait, she got out? How do ya know she will come back?”

I…don’t. We have to trust her. There is literally nothing else we can do.”

Jamison took a deep breath, tired. His brow furrowed a little and he turned to face Mako. “Wait, how’d she get out?”

“She is made of coral. She, uh, ripped her own limbs off and squeezed through the bars”

“Holy shit. That’s pretty…disgusting.”

“No wonder she didn’t die when you set her ship on fire.”

“Yeah. Wonder why she is so worried, though? She basically can’t die. Why doesn’t she just kill this asshole?” He drummed his metallic fingers on the floor.

“Must have some sort of leverage on her.”

After that, they remained in silence. They eventually nodded off, and as he fell asleep, Mako wondered if Anne would ever come back before the Soothsayer dealt with them.

 

A loud bang woke them up. Mako sat up, ready to attack even if he had no weapons. He didn’t need them; he could fight with his hands. 

“What-” Another loud sound echoed through the hallway. Both of them went over to the bars, twisting their necks to see if they could spot anything outside of their cell, but they couldn’t see a thing. 

A body was thrown in the direction of the cell, landing just outside of it. A sword penetrated the body from the back, crimson blood pooling underneath it. Soon enough Anne walked over, some blood on her clothes. 

“You’re back,” Mako sighed.

“Said I would come back.” She looked at Jamison, but didn’t say anything, instead focusing on the dead body at her feet. “Had to find one of his zombies.”

“He is dead. Can it still work?”

She grabbed the corpse by the arm, lifting it up. Mako noticed it was a zombie not unlike the ones they faced before, except this one seemed to be more preserved and less rotten than the others. Anne used it as if it was a doll, putting her hand on top of its and grabbing the bars before pulling back to open the cell without any issue. 

“Wow! Magic sure is weird,” Jamison laughed as he slightly limped outside, followed closely by Mako. 

“Alright, you’re out. Now what?” Anne retrieved her sword from the corpse before throwing it carelessly aside while staring at Mako. 

“First, weapons. I need my weapons.” 

“There is a vault around here that has weapons; I think I saw yours there. Then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were the one that wanted to get out of the cells, Rutledge. I am assuming you have a plan? Or are you just going to run without any idea of what to do?”

Mako wrapped his hand around her neck and lifted her. She may have just helped them, but she had some goddamn fucking nerve.

“Watch your tongue.”

“I literally ripped my own limbs off and crawled through the bars. You think I am scared of you?” 

“We will not be slaves. We will go down fighting. If we die, so be it.”

“Yeah, we aren’t gonna be no slaves,” Jamison added.

“So you have the opportunity to flee and yet you choose to die. How stupid.” 

“Oh, and what will you do?” Mako asked, still holding Anne above the ground.

“I will save Ophelia.”

“That doesn’t sound too smart, either,” Jamison interjected.

“I never said it was.” 

“Let’s work together, then.” He finally placed her back on the ground, unhanding her. “He should have some weakness, right? Does he at least have a physical form?”

“I-” Anne rubbed her forehead. “He did-I mean, does. He ascended beyond his physical form, so to speak. When he captured us, it was his magical, intangible form. He does have a body. If we kill the body, we kill him.”

“So we just stab a body? That can’t be that hard, eh?” Jamison chuckled. 

“His body should be somewhere here. I think…I have an idea of where it could be. But we need to move fast. It won’t be long until he realizes that we are gone.”

“Well then, let’s go.”

Anne bolted to one direction. Before following her, Mako turned to Jamison. “You can walk?”

“Yeah mate, no worries.” He nodded and followed closely behind her.

“We will get you help when we get out of this situation.”

“Yeah, I believe ya. Just gotta hang on for a bit longer. No biggie.”

Mako huffed. “Anne, we need weapons.”

“On it,” she said loudly, stopping when they reached the end of the hallway. There was a room that was previously opened, probably by Anne. She stepped inside and threw Mako his weapons for the man to catch.

“Hey.” She pointed at Jamison. “You know how to use a sword?”

“No,” he chuckled nervously. “Can work with explosives, though! Explosives and fire, those are my things!”

She stared at him, one brow raised. She sighed and directed him to the room. “See if you can use anything.”

The young Jester did so. Mako popped his head in to see what was inside: thousands of weapons from prisoners of the past remained there. Swords, axes, daggers, every type of weapon Mako knew and more. 

“Oh! Look at these!” Jamison grabbed a bag full of grenades, dynamite, and chemicals Mako couldn’t recognize. It was pretty big and heavy, but he placed it on his back to carry as a backpack. He saw the young man grab a couple of knives as well, just in case. 

Mako helped himself to a nearby machete. There was no such thing as being overprepared.

“You done? Because we need to move.” Anne waited for them outside as they finished gearing up. Mako nodded as they started to move once more. 

“You only grabbed one sword?”

“It’s all I need.”

They reached huge stone doors. Anne took a deep breath, unsheathing her sword. “This place is like a maze. It’s like a ship, but…huge. If I’m right, and I think I am, the body is probably in the captain’s cabin. Which is at the top. We’re in the cells, the very bottom. We will have to climb our way there.”

“Oh, fun,” Jamison hissed. “I’m guessin’ it is infested with creatures?”

“I went to grab one of the zombies to open the cell and there didn’t seem to be many. But I am not sure.” She turned to look at him. “Hope you can handle it. It’s that or die.”

“We will die anyways if we stay here,” Mako huffed.

“One more thing: we should be quick. I don’t think the Soothsayer has detected us yet. The quicker we get to the top, the better.” She took a deep breath. “Now, go!” she said as she kicked open the stone doors. As they slammed open, the trio ran into the darkness.

 

It was all dark. Mako’s blinks weren’t as dark as his surroundings. By the sound of their footsteps, they were running on wood, only their breaths audible. But, even if they seemed to be alone, this was dangerous. They couldn’t just run in the darkness; they could be attacked at any minute.

“We need light!” Mako screamed.

“On it!” Jamison said from the side, and Mako heard ruffling coming from that direction. One set of footsteps stopped suddenly.

“Wait, no-”

Before Anne could finish her sentence, Jamison had already lit a match. 

The moment the room was illuminated, Mako could see dozens of rotten bodies crawling up towards them, hissing and sputtering. They were like the ones they had found on Ophelia’s island, but while hers were more rotten and uncared-for, these looked more…preserved. Even so, some had their guts falling onto the floor as they crawled to their position.

“Turn the fucking light off!” Anne screamed, reaching over and extinguishing the flame with her open palm. The moment the room turned dark once more, it went back to silence. The corpses had stopped.

“What-”

“Attracted to light.”

“Oh.” Mako recalled that the other ones they had faced before were also attracted by the fire. He didn’t know there were more of those zombies there, however.

“So what the fuck do we do?! Run in the darkness?!”

“There is no other way-”

“We, ah, we can light it up for one second, then check what direction to run, then extinguish tha’ fire and do it a couple of times until we get to the next room?” Jamison suggested.

“Better than running in the darkness like idiots,” Mako added.

“Right…Okay. We have only a few seconds; they won’t attack us if there isn’t light.” She took a deep breath. “Light it up.”

Jamison did so, and for one second the corpses were back, launching themselves at them. In the two seconds where they could see, Mako spotted the end of the room, where a set of spiral stairs led to the next floor. 

“There!” Mako pointed. The trio started to run while Jamison turned off his light. 

They were left alone by the zombies as they ran. Some minutes passed, and Mako was worried they were moving the wrong direction. “Light it up again!”

Jamison obliged. Mako was right to worry; they were steering away from the staircase. “Damnit!”

“Turn it off! The dead bodies-” One of them launched itself at Anne just as Jamison killed the light.

The sound of something wet being cut echoed through the room along with the thud of something meaty and big landing on the floor. 

“You okay?”

“Yes, got it in time. Now, come on!” 

They ran on, and after two minutes in which Mako was going to tell Jamison to turn on the light again, he felt himself crash against something. 

“Light!”

“You’re not running out matches, are you?” Anne asked, but Jamison just laughed.

“There are plenty ‘ere. Besides, there is more than one way to light up bombs. Light!” 

Mako had crashed just to the side of the spiral stairs. There was light at the top coming from the next level. “Come on!”

Jamison turned off the light and they started their ascent, but it was very hard to climb up stairs in the darkness. However, after huffing and slipping a couple of times and crashing against one another they finally made it to the next level.

“That was the worst thing ever,” Jamison mentioned as he took a deep breath. “What’s next, reef girl?”

“Don’t ever call me that, clown.” She wiped her brow clean. “This is the gunnery area.”

“I’m not a clown,” Jamison protested.

“Gunnery? Looks…abandoned.” 

Sure enough, it did. The cannons looked huge and very deadly, but they were all pointing to the outside. They had a layer of dust on them, and apart from the trio, the entire area seemed to be empty.

“Lucky us, then,” Anne replied softly as she started to walk away. 

Jamison turned to Mako, who just shrugged before they followed close behind.

“Hey, where are those zombies from? There were lots of corpses down there,” Jamison asked as they walked. Mako was fixated on the elegant cannons. 

“People who sold their soul to the Soothsayer. People that owed him. Victims.”

“Those sure were lots of victims.”

Anne nodded silently. “We’re lucky this place is empty. Next should be the deck. That…will be difficult. It will probably be swarming with enemies. Be prepared to fight.”

“Ya said the body was probably in the captain’s quarters, eh?” Jamison asked.

“I think so, yes. That would be our safest bet.” 

They reached the stairs to the next level. The doors that lead to the deck were closed, but Anne kicked them open.

The moment the doors were opened, the sound of gunshots echoed through the room. Both Jamison and Mako got out of the way as Anne just stood in front of the doors, neon pink blood spraying across the floor and the halls. 

As the bullets stopped, Mako could see several small holes in Anne’s body, her suit leaking her own blood. She did not falter, and instead made a “Hmp” sound and waved her sword.

“Frenchmen…”

She said that mockingly, rushing forward with her sword ready. Mako followed her to emerge on the surface. 

“She got them out! Stop them!” a voice screamed out. 

A dagger was thrown at him, but Mako simply deflected it with his hook like it wasn’t a big deal, looking around at this new area.

The deck was massive, bigger than any ship’s he had ever seen. There was nothing but darkness all around. Instead of the sky there was nothingness, an inky black void.

“Incoming!” Anne screamed while she slashed away, bullets hitting her but not bringing her down. 

A group of pirates rushed after him. They didn’t look alive, but they didn’t look as dead as the corpses from the first floor. Mako had no issue ripping them apart with one swing of his hook, spilling their bowels onto the floor. “Friends of yours?”

“Cursed people. Brainless, more slaves. Get rid of them.”

She didn’t have to say it twice. Mako chuckled as he ripped apart the soldiers, pirates, captains, knights, and other assortments of people that had been cursed. He saw from the corner of his eye Jamison, who was getting ready to lob a grenade at them all.

“No!” Anne screamed, rushing at him and taking the explosive from him. “You’ll attract more attention! You’ll make him realize we got out!”

“We’ve been fighting corpses. Don’t ya think he knows?!” Jamison barked back.

“He probably thinks it’s a normal fight. Those break out here a lot! We don’t have enough time, come on!” She put the explosive back in Jamison’s bag. “We need to make our way to the quarters. Kill everything you find on the way!”

Finally, something Mako was good at. 

Jamison wasn’t allowed to use his explosives, so he stayed very close from Mako as the big man ripped apart their enemies. Blood sprayed all over the place. Anne’s technique was elegant and devastating, while Mako’s was brutal and merciless. Anne would clean cut through her enemies; Mako would mangle them apart until they were unrecognizable. 

For being such different people, Mako could recognize they worked really well as a team.   
Mowing down the enemies was easy, until they finally reached the other side of the deck. 

The door was exquisitely decorated, gems encrusted in the elegantly carved, expensive wood. It was a beautiful door.

So of course Anne shoved her sword between the door and the frame, pulling at it in an attempt to open it. But after a few minutes of struggling, she couldn’t open it.

“Let me-” Mako stepped forward, grabbed the handle, and pulled as hard as he could.

The door almost came off its hinges. Some of the gems fell off onto the floor. Mako caught a glimpse of Jamison kneeling down to get at them and…swallow them. Okay. 

“Quiet,” Anne whispered as she very, very carefully and silently entered the room. 

Mako squeezed through the door that was barely big enough for him, Jamison trailing behind.

“Close the door,” the Captain whispered once again at Jamison, who did as ordered. However, due to the blunt force it looked a little crooked, but Mako hoped it was enough until they killed the Soothsayer. 

The door was decorated with thousands and thousands of beautiful gems and crystals, growing from the ceiling and emitting a soft glow. Paintings, jewelry, and even gold were thrown around, like a hoard. It was strangely alluring, the same way a predator lures its prey. 

“Come on, quiet.”

Without sheathing her sword, Anne walked very quietly, careful to not knock anything down.

“How come if this is where his body is, there are no guards keepin’ it safe?” Jamison asked, carefully trying to not step on anything.

“I am the only one of his men that has free will. Everybody else is mind-controlled. They don’t dare get in here.”

“Why are you not mind-controlled like them?”

“I…” She took a deep breath. “He has something better to manipulate me with.”

Both Mako and Jamison looked at each other, but said nothing. 

“There.”

Anne pointed at the wall of the opposite room. The treasure piled up against a coffin made of glass. The lid was off, and Mako could see a body from where he was standing. 

“Come on-”

The door busted open, ripped hard from the outside and thrown away. A huge gust of wind filled the room. Anne turned around just in time for a black tendril to grab her by the leg and pull. She crashed hard against the floor and was dragged away screaming. 

Before Mako could make sense of what was happening, another black tendril wrapped around his leg and yanked him away. He slammed against the ground, his head hitting the floor and bouncing until he saw stars. When he got his bearings, he realized he was being dragged out of the cabin as well, onto the deck.

His world turned upside down as he was lifted into the air, dangling from his leg while he was manhandled like a puppet. It gave him vertigo. Stomach acid rose from his throat and into his mouth. He had to swallow it back as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

A huge pillar of darkness sprouted from the middle of the deck, from which the dark tendrils protruded. Mako had to twist his neck to look at the Soothsayer’s face, which was nothing but a void. 

“ _How pathetic._ ”


	27. Apopholite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “ _Pathetic fools, did you truly think you could kill me?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The battle continues.
> 
>  
> 
> Hello!! How are you doing?? this is basically my birthday present from me to y'all (july 7 is my birthday huhuhuhuh) so here u go!! the Second to last chapter! That's right- next chapter will be the End! One more chapter, and its done. Its kinda sad, cus i love this fic, but things have to come to an end. Thank you for sticking for it!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy this chapter!! Thank you!! Shot out to my gf trish who is my beta! Ilu bby!
> 
> (ALSO WARNING FOR LOTS OF GORE)
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope y'all like it !

His world remained upside-down as he was held high up in the air. The black tendril that grabbed him dug into his leg, and Mako could already feel it piercing his skin. 

“ _Pathetic fools, did you truly think you could kill me?_ ” the Soothsayer spoke, but more than hearing his voice, Mako felt it in his head. It was painful, and he covered his ears in an attempt to block it. 

“You’re a coward! Fight us like a real man!” Anne screamed, dangling upside down. “You’re so strong and big, fight us like an actual person! I bet you can’t even do that!”

“ _You sure have a lot to say, considering what is on the line for you. You know I can very easily kill you, Anne. I have your heart, and even so you wish to go against me? You must be stupider than I thought._ ”

“Where is Ophelia?! Where is she?!”

“ _You bore me,_ ” he sighed. Mako felt himself being raised higher in the air, still upside-down, until he was face-to-face with the Soothsayer. Or, at least, with what could be considered his face.

There was no face, only a void. 

“ _Men are not normally idiotic enough to come here to challenge me. Humanity calls it bravery; I call it stupidity. I have heard of you. I have dealt with you. Why is it that you’re here, again? I have heard tales of you and your men. I did not expect you to come into my clutches._ ”

Every word of that was painful to Mako. He closed his eyes as he felt the words echo through his mind. 

“You took my men.”

“ _Is that all? There are millions of humans in this planet. You could get more men if you were really interested._ ”

“You took my ship!”

“ _Nothing but wood. You can make another one yourself._ ”

“You threatened my life. I wasn’t going to hide from you. I will never run from a fight.”

“ _Interesting. I was going to go and find you, but you came here anyways. You owe me something. Something that you didn’t let me take._ ”

Back when the Kraken stole his ship, it tried to steal Jamison as well. Mako stopped it and saved Jamison, but not before the Soothsayer had drilled into his head that he would pay for this. 

“ _What is it that you want? Fame, power, riches, immortality? You are a very decent and powerful soldier. What is it that you desire?_ ”

“I want my men, I want my ship, and I want you to leave everybody alone.”

“ _You’re too easy to read, Mako Rutledge. I will-_ ”

Mako saw something being thrown from under him. The moment it hit the Soothsayer’s black form it exploded brightly and loudly. The Soothsayer screeched and let go of them.

Landing was pretty painful, especially since Mako was pretty high up. He bounced off the floor a little, skidding across the deck. 

He quickly stood up, body protesting and sore from slamming into the ground. As he regained his bearings he saw Jamison on his back, clutching his explosives bag tightly with one hand and throwing a lit bomb at the dark mass. 

The black pillar became undone as it got hit with explosions. The tendrils moved wildly as they tried to regain their shape, but Jamison wasn’t giving them enough time as he threw bombs at it. A loud screeching sound echoed through the air as the explosions hurt the Soothsayer.

From the corner of his eye he saw Daniels getting up and making a dash towards the cabin where the body was. She was just few steps from getting to the door when thin, multicolored spikes burst from the floor. Urchin’s spines. They rose up to cover the doors in layers of needles, preventing anyone from being able to open it.

“No!” Anne screamed, grabbing at the needles and pulling them, but it was no use. She started to hack at them with her sword, shiny liquid coming from the wounds. 

“ _Enough!_ ” a voice screamed, the pillar of darkness dividing into two. 

The two pieces morphed, turning into two big humanoid silhouettes. One of them seemed to swing a chain, throwing it at Anne. It snagged her leg once more and dragged her away from the bleeding door. 

The other looked big as well, muscular. It formed a huge scimitar in each hand. The blackness faded and what looked like a regular human remained. A young man somewhere in his thirties stood with swords in both hands, sporting bulging muscles and bright green eyes. 

“Let’s have some fun, shall we?” the Soothsayer spoke.

The one that had dragged Anne turned into a human as well, an identical copy except that it had chains instead of swords. Daniels was struggling to get out of his grasp.

“Too small, I can’t aim!” Jamison yelled at Mako. The Soothsayer bolted towards them, already ready to attack Mako. Mako was able to block the attack with his hook, muscles bulging to stop the Soothsayer’s swords.

“Jamison! Door!”

It took only a few seconds for the Jester to realize what he meant. He nodded and scrambled off towards the needles, already throwing bombs at it.

“You piece of-” the Soothsayer hissed in an actual human voice that didn’t pierce through Mako’s ears. He attempted to go after Jamison but Mako kept him busy, his free hand punching the young apparition on the face and sending him stumbling back. 

Meanwhile, Anne was having issues with her Soothsayer. She wasn’t able to get close to him, as he used his chains as whips that grabbed at the young woman and pulled, hit her limbs and broke the skin.

“Rutledge!” she screamed in frustration. Mako already knew what she was going to ask and got ready for it. “Let’s switch!”

“Done!” His Soothsayer lunged forward, but Mako had no issue kicking him in the face and knocking him back for a few seconds, the ones he needed to do the trade. 

Anne ran away, the Chain Soothsayer already whipping his chains. It was about to hit her, but Mako put himself as a barrier just in time for her to avoid it. The chain wrapped around his bicep and, before the Soothsayer could react, he grabbed the chain and pulled it hard. 

They both tugged as hard as they could, the Soothsayer using his free hand to swing his other chain. Mako was able to grab this one with his bare hand as it was in the air. In one swift movement he pulled as hard as he could, bringing the man down. He hadn’t let go, so Mako used all his strength to start swinging him in a huge circle. 

The Soothsayer kept holding the chains until Mako was able to lift him off the floor, at which point let go and was sent flying somewhere away to crash hard to the floor. He didn’t move, but Mako guessed they didn’t have much time. 

With the chains still wrapped around his arms, he turned to see how Anne was doing, just in time to see her stab her Soothsayer in the chest. She twisted her sword and pulled it out, black gunk coming out from the wound rather than blood. 

“Fool!” he screamed, his body getting longer. Two arms turned into four, the swords splitting as well.

“Tch.” She was light on her feet, avoiding the brutish attacks from the Soothsayer as she ran circles around him, her sword slashing and cutting two of the arms with quick swings.

The limbs fell to the floor and disintegrated into black liquid. She was lithe and small enough to be able to zip through his attacks before finally jumping onto his back and stabbing him in the midsection.

Mako watched blackness spill from his mouth as he dissolved onto the deck and vanished into a pool of black. 

Anne grabbed her sword, taking a deep breath. “We don’t have much time. He will rebuild himself soon.” 

She was right. Mako unwrapped his chains and let them fall to the floor as they approached Jamison, who was busy getting rid of the needles. The explosions had taken care of most of them, broken spikes of multiple colors lying on the floor. 

“Cleared most of ‘em but these ones.” There was the first layer of needles, thick and strong. 

Mako simply walked over to them, grabbed them, and pulled. It took a little bit of strength, the muscles in his arms bulging as he pulled the last needles away.

“Impressive,” Anne said nonchalantly as she moved forward to open the door.

As soon as she did so, a figure within almost tackled her. Mako was ready to rip it apart until he realized who it was.

“O-Ophelia?” Anne whispered as the Witch wrapped her arms around Anne’s neck. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?!”

“You came back for me…” She pressed her face against Anne’s neck. 

The Captain looked overwhelmed, a very small smile forming on her face. Her usually serious face was twisted into a happy smile, eyes red and puffy as tears spilled out. “Y-yes. Yes, I’m here. Oh, Ophie, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry about everything.”

It all happened so fast and Mako stared at them.

“Hey, shouldn’t we be gettin’ inside and killin’ the Soothsayer?” Jamison said beside him, one arm placed gently on Mako’s as the Jester stood directly in front of the door. 

“Somethin’s wrong.”

Ophelia looked up at Anne, who lovingly looked at the Witch. Ophelia placed her hands on the sides of Anne’s head and pressed a deep kiss on the Captain’s lips. Daniels blinked in surprise, but wrapped her arms around the Witch and deepened the kiss.

Ophelia pressed herself tightly against Anne’s body, continuing to kiss her as if she never, ever wanted to be apart from the Captain ever again.

 

Thousands of needles erupted from Ophelia’s body in a split second. They pierced Anne’s body completely, their tips piercing all the way through. 

Anne made a choked sound, pink neon blood splattering across the floor and across Ophelia. When they retracted, Anne fell limp to the floor, blood spilling from thousands of small holes in her body as she gasped for air, choking in pain. Her auburn hair spilled like water onto the deck, her eyes staring up at Ophelia, who was wearing her blood.

“Anne-”

The door to the cabin opened and a black tendril grabbed Jamison and pulled him inside before he or Mako could react.

The door slammed shut, and when Mako realized what happened, it was too late. He screamed as he used all his strength to open the door, pulling at it and kicking it, using his hook to try and shatter it, but it didn’t work. It did not open. 

“Jamison! Ja-”

Something stabbed him from behind. The pain traveled through his torso as he keeled over, blood already spilling from his back. When he turned, he saw Ophelia with her empty stare, holding Anne’s blood-covered sword. 

“O-Ophelia, why-”

“She can’t hear you,” the Soothsayer chuckled. He was now suddenly in front of Mako, as if he had teleported in some way. He looked young and strong. “Wasn’t hard to control her mind. Everyone has a prize.”

“B-b-bastard,” Anne wheezed, still on the ground and bleeding. “You can’t kill me, you-”

“Is that true, Anne? I can’t kill you?”

Mako attempted to get up, but Ophelia pressed her foot against his wound, sending a sharp pang of pain down his body. He laid on the floor, thinking that he had survived worse. He just needed to get his bearings. He just needed to overcome the pain. Mako just needed some seconds.

“F-f-fuck off-” Anne attempted to get up, but fell to the ground again. The Soothsayer stood in front of her, smiling as she rolled onto her stomach and tried to prop herself up on her elbows, only for her to throw up blood. 

“I no longer have a need for you.” He made a circle with his fingers, retrieving a jar from thin air. Inside the jar was a heart.

“Remember this? I took it from you, Anne. It has been pretty good leverage,” he chuckled. Ophelia moved over to stand next to the Soothsayer and directly in front of Anne, who only stared up at the Witch. “But I must admit, I am growing tired of you. I have no use for you anymore.”

He gave the jar to Ophelia. She opened i, and took the heart in her hands. 

“No, no! Leave it, don’t-!” Anne desperately begged as she struggled to stand, her wounds still not healing. “No!”

“Too late for that, Anne. Goodbye.”

Needles grew from Ophelia’s hands, filling the heart.

 

A spray of blood came out of Ophelia’s mouth. She dropped to the floor, screaming in pain as blood poured from her chest and mouth. The stabbed heart rolled out of her hands as she continued to scream and writhe. Anne just stared, her eyes red.

“What-” The Soothsayer was confused as was Mako. That was Anne’s heart, so why wasn’t Anne dying?

“Ophelia…!” Anne screamed, crawling towards the woman and cradling her in her arms. “I’m so sorry. I should-” She grabbed the stabbed heart as Ophelia took sharp breaths.

Mako couldn’t make sense of the situation and neither could the Soothsayer. And as much it made him feel like a dick, he had better things to do. 

He finally had enough strength to get up, but as soon as he turned to get to the cabin the Soothsayer was already in front of him. “I haven’t forgotten about you.”

Surprised, Mako took a step back. “Everybody has a prize, Mako Rutledge, and I have found yours.”

Out of thin air, Jamison appeared in front of him. The young man crumpled to the floor, sweating and barely able to breathe. He didn’t seem hurt; if anything, he seemed exhausted. 

“Jamie-”

“Watch it,” the Soothsayer spoke. “You have no leverage here, Rutledge.” 

“Ah!” Jamison hissed, grabbing his wounded right leg as blood seeped into his clothes. 

“Humans are interesting. They get attached to each other, would die for each other. Do, all the time.” He looked over at Anne, who was cradling a dying Ophelia as the latter clung to life. “Meaningless things. That’s why I decided to stop being one, to have more power than any human could ever have. I don’t need an attachment. I am powerful. I am beyond that.”

“What do you _want_.”

“I have no need for Anne anymore. She should be dead. I don’t know how she swapped the hearts,” Swapped? “but I will get rid of her later. I need a strong man in my ranks, someone powerful. Someone who can kill thousands with his bare hands.”

“What makes you think I’ll work for you?”

“You will!” he chuckled, pointing at Jamison with a sword. “Leverage, Mako.”

Jamison looked at the Soothsayer, but his face twisted in pain as he went back to clinging to his leg. 

“Don’t think I forgot your stunt with the Kraken. I take what I want. And what I can’t take, I take anyways.” He laughed loudly. “That little wound? It’s taking him over. And when it spreads all over his body, he will be under my control forever.”

Black tendrils grabbed Jamison from under the arms and lifted him up to a standing position. From that position, Mako could tell that the blood he thought he saw was black. The blackness was spreading. 

“If you do as I say, I won’t kill him.”

“I- I’m no slave, mate…” Jamison huffed, exhausted. He was holding a bomb, but a sharp buzz of pain made him drop it.

“Pathetic.” He pressed the sword against his neck and faced Mako. “You do as I say, he gets to live.”

“I-” Mako stuttered. For the first time in his life, he stuttered.

“Bein’ a slave ain’t living. I’m not gonna be mind controlled.” 

“No matter.” The tendrils let go of him, and Jamison was barely able to stand up. He looked feverish, sick and terrible. The disease was spreading up his thigh. “Soon enough, you will-”

Jamison used his metallic hand to yank the Soothsayer’s sword from his grasp. Before the Soothsayer could react, Jamison closed his eyes and, lifting his right leg as he clenched his teeth, swung the blade.

He screamed horribly. The blade was sharp enough that the infested leg fell clean away. Mako watched the jester’s limb crumble into black goo. He had cut the infection free, preventing it from spreading to the rest of his body.

“You!” The tendrils came back and held a bleeding, crying Jamison in place as the Soothsayer retrieved his sword.

“No!” Mako screamed. He ran and threw his hook, watching in slow motion it traveled through the air. Seconds turned into hours as it soared.

Not fast enough. It wasn’t fast enough. 

The Soothsayer slashed Jamison’s torso, cutting deep enough to pierce the young man’s stomach. Gems spilled out of his belly into the floor, gold and necklaces. Like hidden treasure. Like gutting a fish.

Jamison’s golden eyes went wide as blood poured from his mouth. Mako’s hook wrapped around the Soothsayer’s arm, and he pulled, ripping it free, but the limb dissipated like Jamison’s midflight. 

In a quick movement, the Soothsayer grabbed Jamison and threw the mangled man at Mako. The Pirate Captain was just able to catch him as he fell, jewels still spewing out of his open guts. With nothing to pull, the hook fell towards the ground, slamming hard against the bomb Jamison had dropped seconds before.

A bright explosion flooded Mako’s vision and his ears burst with pain as everything went white.

 

Mako felt the pain as soon as he regained consciousness. 

He was lying on his back, excruciating pain traveling up and down it. He felt several sharp things piercing him from behind. As he stood up, slowly, he grabbed one of the things and pulled it out, examining it with barely focused eyes. It was a sharp piece of wood and, if Mako was correct, it was part of the cabin’s door. The rest of the door was lodged into his back in several small and big pieces. 

Mako took a sharp breath, still confused and exhausted. Something in his belly hurt, and he looked down at his stomach in a daze to see a much larger piece of wood lodged in it.

In a foolish move, Mako touched it lightly, and it hurt so much, he thought he was going to pass out again. His skin was slightly burnt and he smelled of gunpowder. It was then when he remembered Jamison’s bomb going off and hitting both of them.

Jamison. Mako forgot about the pain to search for his partner. Jamison was lying next to him, hands pressed against his stomach as he lost blood from the stump. 

Mako made a choked sound. The young man was just barely breathing, blood spilling from mouth and nose. He pulled him close. He was dying. They were both dying. 

The ship creaked. Mako looked out of the hole that used to be the door, a black pillar reforming slowly. The Soothsayer was building himself up again.

Mako had one chance. They had been thrown into the cabin; he had one chance to end this once and for all.

It hurt, it made him want to scream and the pain brought tears to his eyes, but Mako stood up. He very carefully picked up Jamison, wrapping the Jester’s arm around his neck and dragging them both. Jamison’s one foot left a trail of blood as it dragged across the floor. The Jester was conscious enough to press his guts inside of himself to keep them from spilling further.

With his free hand, Mako pressed his own belly, realizing it helped the pain. He himself was bleeding from everywhere, face sweating as he very, very slowly walked towards the glass coffin.

He could hear the Soothsayer behind them, could hear and feel his frustration, the way he tried to pull himself together. Mako didn’t stop to look behind him, continuing on as more blood spilled out of his gut. It hurt to breath. Every step was agony. 

“ _YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS_ ” echoed painfully through his ears. But Mako didn’t stop. A few more steps and he would be there.

He had to kick some goblets and other shit out of his way, but he finally made it. He stood over the coffin, looking down at the Soothsayer’s physical body.

It looked like a sleeping elderly man. White hair and white beard, face wrinkled with age. He lay inside the coffin atop white sheets, looking like some sort of religious figure. Peaceful. 

With shaking hands, he retrieved the machete he still had. He was starting to feel dizzy. He aimed the machete just above the Soothsayer’s mortal heart.

The black, magical body of the Soothsayer slammed into the ship, rocking it back and forth. Mako lost grip of his machete and it fell to the floor to skid away from him. The rocking made him lose his balance and he crashed against the wall next to the coffin. 

He screamed in agony and slid across the floor as the ship continued to rock. His eyes focused on the entrance, black ink hands tearing apart the wood, tentacles and tendrils traveling towards him while the Soothsayer’s screaming echoed through his head painfully. He was so exhausted.

Mako looked over at Jamison at his side. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, blood continuing to pour out of him. His bloodied hands pressed at his thin stomach, but the blood kept coming. The Jester stared up at him, weak and delirious. Mako caressed his sweat- and blood-soaked hair. The hands were coming to drag them away.

Mako grabbed the piece of wood in his stomach, closed his eyes, and pulled hard.

It hurt. God, it fucking hurt. He had only seconds before he died, but he was going to make them count. If they were all going to die he was going to make sure it counted.

Mako stood up, pain still blossoming from his stomach through his entire body. He functioned on nothing but instinct now.

As the hands approached rapidly to tear them apart, Mako didn’t falter. He raised the sharp wood above his head and struck.

He stabbed the body right through the chest. 

The Soothsayer screamed in agony, the hands coming undone and leaking towards the floor. Mako twisted the stake, making the Soothsayer scream louder. He took it out to stab him again, and again, and again, each stab forcing a horrible screech. 

Mako continued, but it didn’t seem enough. He took the now blood-covered stake one more time. The body had countless stab wounds and blood was already leaking onto the white sheets. He quickly shoved the stake through the man’s neck, almost decapitating him. It was then when the body opened its eyes and screamed in bloody horror as it died. 

Mako didn’t see what else happened, because he slid down the floor and grabbed Jamison, keeping him close. 

He watched the black hands twitch and dissolve in the doorway, the wooden walls of the deck coming undone as well. Everything was fading, the wood peeling away, and soon the cabin was no more. They ship continued to peel, turning from a giant horrible cursed ship into a normal, if abandoned one. 

The black mass continued screaming in horror, changing shapes until it looked like nothing. It started to puke sea water, octopi, fish, urchins…The water turned red and bloody, and as it continued to puke its guts out it became smaller, dissipating into the air. 

Mako felt like he was hallucinating. 

From the corner of his eye, he could see Anne and Ophelia, still on the floor. Ophelia just barely raised her hand, which glowed. 

As the Soothsayer dissolved in death, the particles that separated from him were flying towards Ophelia’s hand, which absorbed them. Absorbing the magic. 

He continued to scream until he was human-sized, fell to the floor and had seizures, his mass breaking apart until it was nothing. Mako turned his head and the body he had murdered was now a withered corpse, looking like it had been mummified decades ago. 

He would have felt better about it, except that he and Jamison were dying in horrible, horrible ways. 

Mako took a deep breath, one of his last. He grabbed Jamison and dragged him close, ready to die. He just wished he could have had more time.

 

Instead of dying, he felt something soothing and cool wash over him. Opening his eyes, his wound glowed as it closed itself. Before he could make sense of it, he felt pain in his back. Whatever was happening to him, it was shoving the splinters and wood out of his back, healing his wounds with that warm yellow energy. 

He turned to face Jamison, the yellow glow healing him as well. It shoved his guts back inside his body and healed up his wound. It left a big scar, but that was far preferable to death. His leg was also healed, cauterized so it wouldn’t bleed anymore. That magic, it healed them. It saved them.

Now that he didn’t feel like shit, he saw Ophelia with her arm raised, the yellow glow coming from it. 

“Mako?” Jamison whispered. The young man was still covered in his own blood, but looked down at himself. “We’re-”

“Alive.” 

Jamison pressed his flesh fingers against the scar the wound had left, biting his lip. “Oh…we’re alive.”

“I think Ophelia did it.” He stood up, then realized Jamison couldn’t. He was missing a leg. “Come on.”

He helped Jamison up, one hand wrapped around his waist, and supported him as he walked.

“You cut off-”

“I-later, okay? I’m still digestin’ the fact I’m not dead.”

Okay. Yeah. They would talk about everything later, he supposed. Mako himself still felt shock and was too full of adrenaline to talk about anything.

They approached the women. Ophelia’s hand had stopped glowing; now it was on the floor as she shook and took difficult breaths. She looked like she was dying. 

“You… did this?” Mako asked, motioning to himself and Jamison.

“Y-yes. Couldn’t…let you die. You killed him. Freed us.”

“How’d ya do it?” Jamison asked. He also sounded way too shocked and exhausted to not be insensitive. 

“As he died, he l-leaked magic. Managed to snag some of it. Am more powerful… more powerful now. Doesn’t matter, though.” She had a hard time speaking. 

“I don’t understand,” Jamison sighed. “Ye were mind-controlled, right? Ye stabbed Anne’s heart? We have yer heart.”

“No,” Anne interrupted. “You have my heart.”

“What? Ya swapped them? Or-”

“I-” Ophelia swallowed her pain. “When I cursed Anne…I cursed both of us. It tore us. It dug out our hearts.” She spoke slowly, regret and pain in her voice. “My heart, her heart…It gave me her heart. She got mine. All these years, we’ve had each other’s heart.”

“I knew it from the beginning. I knew it was your heart. I felt it.” Anne was sobbing. “And at first, I wanted to destroy it, knowing it would kill you. But I couldn't. How could I? I-I didn’t-”

“I thought…of destroying yours, too. But it wasn’t your fault. It’s mine.”

“So… all this time, ya knew ye had each other’s hearts? And…even so, ya fought so hard to protect them?” Jamison asked.

“The Soothsayer thought it was my heart. I never corrected him. He threatened me with it. Said he would kill me if I stepped out of line. Which he tried to do just now, but-” Anne just kept sobbing. “It hurt you instead.”

“You became a slave to him to prevent me from dying?” Ophelia was crying, too. “But I did this to you. I hurt you. Why-”

“I couldn’t let you die. I would be a slave forever if it meant you would be okay and alive.”

“Mako found your heart. I…feared you, Anne. I thought, I thought I wanted you dead. So I could be guilt-free. But when he found your heart I couldn’t. I can’t let you suffer for what I did. It’s, you do not deserve that. You don’t deserve what happened to you.”

“I’m so sorry, Ophelia.”

 

 _This is awkward_ , Mako thought to himself. He was very touched, but also covered in blood and exhausted and witnessing something very, very personal. He felt so out-of-place.

Maybe he could help.

“Ophelia,” he said, softly. His hand went to his hip, where he kept the bag with the Oph- Anne’s heart. He gave it to Ophelia, who could barely lift her hand to receive it.

Anne was cradling Ophelia’s bleeding heart.

“I love you,” Ophelia whispered, as she presented Anne’s heart to the Captain, her hands shaking and bleeding. 

Anne sobbed, taking the heart with one hand. With the other, she presented the wounded heart. “I love you too.”

 

The hearts glowed brightly, as did their hands. Both women glowed so much that it hurt Mako’s eyes. Coral and urchin needles fell to the floor of the deck as they continued to glow and their hearts disappeared.

Once the glow stopped, both women stared at each other. The strange color of their skin was gone. They looked healthy, normal. Human. 

“Anne-” Ophelia raised a hand and pressed it against Anne’s skin. “You-your face, you-”

“You, you too! You’re-you’re normal! We’re normal! We’re not cursed anymore! And you’re okay. You’re okay.”

Both women embraced each other tightly, sobbing.

Mako took a deep breath. He was going to say something to Jamison, but the young man had fallen asleep in his grasp. Mako thought about it and felt that he should probably do the same.

Their fight was over.


	28. Gold - Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And he was alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _The end_.
> 
>  
> 
> Hello!! I am SO Excited ! here it is! the end! finally!!
> 
> I REALLY liked htis fic but i must admit- it took a long time to finish. Far More than I expected!!!! To be completely honest, i reworked this fic like 50 times before we got to the ending we have now, and the plot. This is the best outcome, btw. The other ones were ok but they were... just ok, you get me. This is the best outcome, but yeah. we went through a lot of hiatus and reworks because I used to think i liked an idea only to figure out i didn't, so I changed it.
> 
> But here it is! Finally!!
> 
> Thanks all of you for sticking with me for this long ride. I love y'all. And thanks a lot to my gf trish who is my lovely beta. Love you bby.
> 
> Thank you so much and I hope y'all like it <3<3

“What do you mean, ‘under arrest’?”

After a very short ten-minute nap, Mako woke up to a surprise. The people that had been brainwashed and were still alive had come out of their trance and were now speaking with Anne and Ophelia. 

Mako could see a couple dozen of them. And more kept appearing. A group of people with French uniforms were speaking with Daniels, who just stared at them with crossed arms. 

“Don’t think we don’t recognize that man,” one of them barked, pointing a finger at Mako. “Rutledge should be apprehended and charged for his crimes.”

“Captain, you do realize what happened, right?” Anne sighed. “You were all under the control of the Soothsayer, and thanks to that man you are no longer slaves. You want to apprehend him?”

“He is criminal scum, a pirate! There is an order for his incarceration in several countries, including ours. I do not care what he did; we will arrest him. I have to say, Captain Daniels, I am very surprised you are taking his side.”

Anne rolled her eyes. “Frenchmen.”

Mako made his way over, only for the man to become more agitated. “He should be in prison!”

“I saved your lives. All of you. You want to put me away?” Mako snorted.

“And yet you have killed so many, pirate.”

Mako just shrugged.

“You seem to have affiliation with the Sea Witch too, Daniels,” he angrily yelled as he pointed at Ophelia. “Associating with pirates and witches? What can I expect from someone who used to be a cursed monster?”

Anne stiffened and took a step forward. The man was taller than her, but he was the one intimidated.

“You have a lot of guts to scream at us considering we just saved your lives.” she hissed.

“You killed most of my men in the fight.”

“You want me to finish the job? Because now I have the urge to.”

“Now, let’s not be rash,” Mako said calmly, but to be honest he wanted to just kill the soldiers. His body was still sore and he was pretty exhausted, though, so he went for the rare calm route. “These are extraordinary circumstances. We all just almost died and I saved all of you. Isn’t that enough?”

“You listen well, scum,” the Frenchman scoffed. Mako was pretty much ready to punch him in the face, but another man with the same uniform ran over.

“Captain Clermont, we found the Pégase. She is in perfect condition.” 

“Our ship…?” The Captain looked surprised. 

Mako looked around towards the sea. He remembered there was a ship graveyard around the area, and sure enough there were ships there as well. Some looked rotten to the core, but others seemed in good condition. Hurt, but fixable.

A sudden spark of excitement appeared, hope that he could find the Sea Hog again. 

“Listen, men.” Anne calmed down and took a deep breath. “It has been a long day. You have found your ship. You have found your surviving men. Let’s start with the vendettas tomorrow morning, shall we? I am sure you just want to go home.”

“You don’t have any right to-” 

Ophelia yawned very loudly and stepped forward. “Okay. You act all mighty, yet you are also here. I know for a fact that the Soothsayer must have given you something you couldn’t have, which is why you are standing here at this moment. Isn’t that right?”

Captain Clermont was taken aback. “I-”

“What was it? Riches? No. Power, maybe? Political power? It must have seen something really, really good and perhaps illegal if you were willing to risk your entire crew to get it. And look where it got you.” She stepped forward, eyes big and menacing. “You know, I heard some rumors that a certain Bernard Clermont wanted to climb the ranks. I wonder if that is related to this situation.”

“How do you-”

“The sea hears everything, Bernard. And I know why you are here.” She smiled ear to ear. “Wouldn’t be too wise to threaten someone with such a secret, no?”

He was quiet for several moments, then nodded anxiously. “V-very well. We will…we will leave. Let’s forget this has ever happened. Should be fair.”

“I mean, we just saved your lives,” Mako pointed out, but Clermont ignored him. 

He rounded up his men and left. Mako was worried more people and captains would try to arrest them, but it seemed all of them were understanding of the fact that he had just saved their lives. 

Jamison woke up a couple of hours later as more and more men searched for their ships or tried to figure out how to leave. Mako went over to him and sat down. The young man was just staring at his right leg stump. 

He seemed to try to touch it with his flesh hand, but didn’t have the guts to. Ophelia had healed the wound perfectly, but the fact that Jamison had no leg was still very traumatic. Mako could barely wrap his head around it.

“Hey,” Mako greeted him softly. “How are you feeling?”

“I-” He bit his lip. Then placed his hand on his stomach. “Alive?”

“Alive is good.”

“I mean, yes, but.” Jamison just looked confused. “I am very happy I am alive, for sure. Absolutely. But also, it feels kinda weird, ya know. I got gutted like a fish. And I cut me own leg off.”

“You…you cut your leg off.”

They both remained quiet.

“That was a bit extreme, eh?” Jamison chuckled. “But I feel like it made sense at the moment. I mean, that guy said he was gonna use me to control ya. And I couldn’t have that, right! I had to do something! So I guess this was the only thing I could think of.” 

Mako had no words. What could he say to that? Nothing he could say could compare to what Jamison did. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” He just kept staring at his stump. “It will take a while to get used to. I mean, like, I see that I don’t have a leg anymore, but can’t really wrap my head around it, ya know?”

“If you need anything-”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. I know.” 

Mako would make sure Jamison got the best peg leg that ever existed. He was going to make sure of that. 

“It was pretty terrifying. All of that.” Jamison played with the fabric of his jacket. “Ya know. Just being gutted and lying there. Knowing we were going to die. I mean, we didn’t die. But…still. That moment thinking we were gonna die…it was pretty terrifying.”

Yes. Yes it was. Mako had never been more terrified in his entire life. 

“I was scared, too.”

Jamison stared at him. “Ya killed him, though. Ya acted fast.”

“Yeah, but it was very horrifying. I was terrified. And I felt guilty, too.”

“Huh? Guilty, why?”

“Because you were going to die, too. And I felt like…it was my fault.”

Jamison didn’t say anything. They remained quiet for a while, and then Jamison leaned over and cushioned himself against Mako’s side. Mako wrapped his arm around him and remained silent as they observed more people looking for their ships. 

Mako started to drift to sleep, his arm still around the Jester. 

 

“Captain!”

A familiar voice woke him up. He blinked a couple of times to focus his eyes just before the same voice called again. “Captain!”

He spotted several of his men running towards him.

“My crew-” Mako patted Jamison to wake him up while he stared at the pirates. “My crew!”

He stood up and ran to meet them. They met halfway and Mako just opened his arms and hugged as many as he could hug. They all laughed deep from their bellies, laughter echoing through the sky. 

“You are alive! Where are the others? Are they-”

“Most of us survived, Captain. The others are already looking for the Sea Hog.” 

“Good. One less thing to worry about.”

“Captain, what happened? Why are you here? Were you captured, too?” one of them asked.

Mako shook his head. “No. Came here, killed the Soothsayer.”

Silence. They all stared at him, trying to digest what he had just said. 

“It’s true!” Jamison said from where they were sitting. “He killed ‘im!”

“Captain, there is the witch! And Daniels!” 

The pirate pointed at the two women, who were having a conversation. He was loud enough to prompt the women to stare at him in annoyance. 

“Yes, they, uh…they helped. Saved our lives. So we are leaving them alone.” Mako rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s a long story.”

“But Captain, after everything they did…”

“I said we are leaving them alone. Are you disobeying my direct order?”

They said nothing.

“Good. Rest. As soon as they find the Sea Hog, we are leaving.” 

“Aye Captain!” they yelled out, then dispersed. Mako was happy that they were alive, but he had also had a very tiring day. He looked over at Jamison, who was still sitting on the floor. Mako felt like a dick, forgetting he couldn’t follow anymore without help.

He went over him once more and sat down. 

“They’re searching for the ship. We are leaving when we find it.”

“Right! Sounds great.”

Mako felt something heavy inside his chest. He took a deep breath.

“I would like you to come with us.”

Jamison turned to face him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Mako licked his lips, “we basically kidnapped you.”

“Mate, if I wanted out, there were hundreds of ways I could have gotten out. I want to stick with ye.”

“Just wanted to make sure.”

Jamison smiled. “I know. I am sure, don’t worry.”

Mako smiled behind his mask, feeling far calmer now. He knew that Jamison would say that, but still. He felt like he had to make sure. 

“Hey,”

Mako turned to face him. Jamison propped himself up and kissed Mako’s mask gently. In return, Mako lifted up his mask just enough for his lips to show, shoving it to the side to cover their faces. He cupped Jamison’s face and kissed him deeply. 

It was soft. Months ago, he was anything but. A killing machine, ruthless, destroyer of lives. And now Jamison had undone him. Had pulled him apart from the seams, dug out something deep inside of him that he had thought long-dead. 

But he didn’t care, honestly. He only cared about what he was now and what he would be. 

It felt good.

 

The sound of the sea was deafening. His crew hadn’t found his ship yet, but most of the ships had already sailed. It was only a matter of time. 

There was only one loose end, and Mako figured he should deal with it, otherwise he would never have the opportunity again.

“Be right back.” Mako stood up from next to Jamison. 

“Where ya going?”

“Going to talk with Daniels. Getting closure.”

“Hey, tell her I’m sorry about burning her ship.”

“Yeah.” Mako made his way to the Captain, who was staring at the distance. 

“Anne,” he greeted her softly.

She turned around and nodded. She looked tired, but at least the woman was now completely human, free of tumorous coral growing out of her. “Hello.”

“I just wanted to thank you for helping us. If it hadn’t been for you…”

She shook her head and shrugged. “I helped you to help myself. I…I knew Ophelia had my heart. And I had hers. I wanted to rescue her myself. She could have destroyed it at any time during all those years but she didn’t. I had to save her. And I used you to save her.”

“Yes. You also had her heart.”

Anne nodded and rubbed her face. “I just couldn’t kill her.”

“I also wanted to give you this,” Mako was already pulling the mirror out, but Anne lifted her hand, stopping him.

“I don’t need the mirror anymore.” She smiled, softly. “I know what I want. And I learned my lesson.”

“Lesson?”

She looked down, and then up at Mako. She looked very young under the light from the sun. “It is very tempting to close yourself to others, to pretend your feelings do not exist.” She looked over at Ophelia, who was standing too far away to hear and looking down at the sea. “I shouldn’t have been an asshole.”

Mako was silent.

“Rutledge, talking won’t kill you. Not talking, however…”

“Wait, how do you-”

She looked over at Ophelia. The little witch probably told her everything.

“That little-”

“Thank you, Rutledge. You helped me fix a huge mistake.” 

Mako looked over at her. “I’m fixing mine, too.”

“Good luck with that.”

“What will you do now?”

She turned back towards the ocean and pointed at one of the ships. It was in a decent state, and Mako suddenly recognized it.

“It’s my ship, the Red Tide.”

“I know of it. We set it ablaze.”

Anne stared at him.

“...Jamison apologizes for that.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll go back to the capital. Got enough gold and riches to live comfortably.”

“You won’t be a Captain anymore?”

“I spent countless days and nights hunting the seas on behalf of the Soothsayer. I love the sea. It is my home, and my passion, but I do not wish to be on it for a while.” She leaned over, staring at her ship. “Perhaps another time. For myself. I do not wish to belong to anyone.”

“Now you sound like a pirate.”

She chuckled. “Piece of shit pirate.”

“Son of a bitch Captain.”

They shook hands. 

Mako made his way back to Jamison, only to find Ophelia sitting down next to him and talking.

“Hey,” he greeted them as he got to their side.

“Hey, Mako.” Jamison smiled.

“Rutledge, hello,” Ophelia said. Her hair looked tangled and she looked a bit pale, but still human like Anne. “Was just thanking him for helping me.”

“I mean, we also hunted you down.”

“Let’s just pretend nothing but good things came out of this,” she sighed. “I am too tired to carry a grudge.”

“You did send us to our deaths, though.”

She shrugged.

“What are you going to do now?” Jamison asked.

Ophelia crossed her arms and shook her head, unsure. “I am not sure. I mean, I don’t have to hide from the Soothsayer anymore. So-”

“Ophelia?” Anne interrupted.

“I- yes? What’s, what’s wrong?” She turned slightly red and nervous. It was very obvious. Mako almost chuckled.

“I found the Red Tide,” Anne followed up.

“I…that’s great! So you’re leaving?”

“Yes. I’m leaving for the capital. I have enough money and riches to live for a while.”

“Oh! Oh. That’s-” Ophelia smiled, but it was awkward. “That’s great. I…I wish you good luck.”

“Ophelia.”

“Mhm?” Her smile was crooked. 

“I want you to come with me.”

“I…huh? You…you want me to…what?” she stuttered.

“I mean,” the Captain coughed, “I mean, I have no crew. At all. And you know the sea. So, maybe you can, um,”

Now it was Anne’s turn to be an awkward stuttering mess. 

“I mean, you could be my navigator. And first mate. I mean, I don’t have anyone so, yeah. Yeah.”

“You… yes. I mean. Of co- but, you want me? To be your, erm, navigator, of course.”

“Ophelia, I want you to come with me. If you…want.” Her voice was so small. “We can start over. Start everything from zero. If you…want.”

“Yes. Yes, that’s what I want.”

Both women smiled and shuffled awkwardly like they were overflowing with emotions but weren’t sure what to do next. 

“Okay, so we should…be going now. Yeah.” 

“I was saying goodbye to-” Ophelia pointed at Mako and Jamison, but then turned to face them. “Thank you for everything.”

“Thank ye both, too.” Jamison smiled.

“We won’t see each other ever again, right?” Mako asked.

Both women shrugged. “Maybe. But it will be under different circumstances.”

“Captain!” One of Mako’s men approached him, finally. “We have found the Sea Hog! She is in perfect condition. We are bringing her over soon. It should only be a couple of minutes.”

“It seems we are all leaving now,” Anne added.

“Yeah. It seems so.” 

“Rutledge.” Ophelia moved her fingers and a velvet bag appeared from thin air. She handed it to Mako, who just stared at it.

“You can do that now?”

“My magic became stronger. Now, here-”

Mako took the bag and was about to open it, but Ophelia stopped him.

“No. Open it later. It’s…a present. For helping me. For helping all of us, and saving us.”

Mako nodded. “Okay.”

“Goodbye, Mako Rutledge.” Ophelia smiled.

“Good luck.” Anne smiled as well.

They turned around and walked towards the Red Tide, together. Mako watched them get into the ship and sail away.

He never saw them again.

 

His crew brought the Sea Hog shortly after. They all climbed aboard and sailed on. Their first goal was Tortuga, to just get drunk in celebration. It seemed like the appropriate response to everything that had happened. That, and try to figure out who could build a decent prosthesis for Jamison. It would be tricky. A normal peg leg wouldn’t work; his knee was missing, too. But they would figure something out. 

Mako and Jamison were sitting on Mako’s bed. Jamison himself was drinking a bottle of booze while Mako got undressed. He felt like he slept about ten hours that day, but fuck it; he was still extremely exhausted. And nothing beat sleeping in his very comfortable bed.

“Hey,” Jamison called out to him, “didn’t Ophelia give you something?”

Oh, right. Ophelia had given him something. It was probably some gems or something.

He retrieved the bag and opened it. He already knew there was something weird about it; whatever was in it was way, way bigger than the outside of the bag? Like it was bigger on the inside. Mako looked at it curiously and grabbed whatever was inside, pulling it out.

Multiple rolled-up pieces of paper. Mako was even more confused.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t…know?” Mako went over to his desk and unrolled them. 

It looked like the interior design of something. Floor plans, very elaborate. 

“What is-”

It suddenly struck him what they were. He grabbed the papers, unrolled them all, and stared. 

“Oh.”

“Mako? What is it?” Jamison got off the bed and hopped, trying to see what the fuss was about.

“The castle. This, this is the King’s Castle plans.”

“What?” The Jester stared at the paper. “Oh my god! They are! These are the floor plans! This is a map to the King’s Castle!”

“We can steal all the gold!”

“We can steal all the gold!”

Mako wrapped his big arms around Jamison, laughing and making circles. Jamison clung to him and laughed hysterically as well as Mako twirled him around the room. 

It seemed that in the end, Ophelia had done her part of the deal. 

Mako threw Jamison onto the bed, both of them still hollering. Jamison was already stripping down, but Mako’s hands were all over him. He pressed kisses onto every inch of skin he could get to, helping Jamison undress.

Oh, how it felt to be alive.

 

The moonlight illuminated the cabin softly. Mako woke up in the middle of the night.  
He turned his head and saw Jamison soundly asleep, his soft face relaxed.

Mako took a deep breath. He looked up at the ceiling and saw something reflecting the light. He looked at the source, and saw the mirror. Anne’s mirror next to the bed, on the floor. 

He reached over and grabbed it. 

Last time he looked at it, he saw nothing.

He had it in his hands, but wasn’t looking at it. He was about to turn it over when he heard Jamison shuffle beside him. 

Mako turned around and looked at the young man once more, his freckled white face shining under the moonlight. With one finger, he very gently he caressed his cheek. Jamison sighed and opened his eyes.

“Everythin’ okay?” the jester asked, softly.

“Yes, everything is ok.”

Jamison smiled. “Okay,” he sighed while already ready to go back to sleep. 

Mako reached over and gave him a soft kiss. “I love you.”

Jamison smiled. “I love you, too.”

The young man fell asleep pretty much instantly, and Mako watched him for a few seconds. 

He returned his focus to the mirror in his hands. 

 

Mako threw it aside. 

 

He turned over and wrapped his arms around Jamison, pressing his chin against the top of his head, and closed his eyes, the sound of the sea lulling him to a deep slumber. 

And he was alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always like to think that my stories have like... one fundamental thing going for them.
> 
> For this one, it would be: don't be an emotionally constipated Jackass.
> 
> This story is very dear to me and while I am happy I completed it, I am also sad because its done! I really loved it, warts and all. It evolved a lot as I wrote it, but I feel this is the satisfactory ending. It means a lot to me y'all stuck to it for so, so long. Thank you so much guys. I love y'all and if it wasnt for my lovely readers I dont know where I would be <3<3
> 
> Well, that's It! I hope y'all enjoyed the story! I sure enjoyed writing it a lot! 
> 
> For now- I will continue writing fic. Right now as I write this i have 3 multi chaptered fics. I will try to finish at least One of them before I start another multi chapter fic (I alreayd have an idea for a Roadrat AU huhuhuhuh). I was a booboo the fool and thought I could handle having like. 4 multi chapter fics at once. well. fun fact: im not. So for now, I'm gonna take it a bit easy and try to not have so much shit on my plate. But! I love writing fic, and while i do take hiatus and get tired due to work and the like, don't think I'll stop. I am not gonna stop for the foreseeable future.
> 
> Thank you so much! I love y'all!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!! I hope you enjoyed it!!!  
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> 
> https://discord.gg/TExtAwW
> 
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> 
> Hit me up if you want to talk about the Junkers!!!


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